Yabai Koi Series
by xXRottWeilerXx
Summary: Because according to Kageyama-kun, everything about Oikawa was 'yabai'. [Entry #13: It wasn't easy working at a gay bar when he was actually straight.]
1. Chapter 1

**Yabai Koi Series**

 **A/N:** because i love yacchan so much i could die.

 **Disclaimer: Haikyuu! Doesn't belong to me, nor does yacchan.**

 **Overall Summary:** Because according to Kageyama-kun, everything about Oikawa was 'yabai'.

 **Summary #1:** She was surrounded by wonderful and beautiful people, and she knew that. Guys keep hitting on Kyoko-san whenever they went, which was why she didn't turn around when he called out to her. "Yo, Karasuno's kawaii manager!"

* * *

 **Yabai Koi:#1**

She was surrounded by wonderful and beautiful people, and she knew that. Whenever they went to different schools for joint practices, guys would zero in on the prettier of the two Karasuno Volleyball Club managers. Even then, as they walked towards the school gymnasium of Seijoh for a joint practice, Shimizu-senpai had plenty of guys who were trying to gain her attention.

Yup, she was a side character, and she was fine with it.

Which was why she didn't turn around when he called out to her. Because really, Yachi thought that the tall guy was referring to her senpai. She was just coming back from their bus, fetching some refreshments for the boys when the older guy came jogging towards her from the other side of the gym, swiftly avoiding a ball that Iwaizumi-san was probably aiming at him.

"Yo, kawaii-chan!"

The first time he called out to her, she didn't even turn towards him, thinking that maybe he was hitting on Shimizu-senpai, who came into the gym after her.

The boys thought so too as they went on with their warming up routine, except for Nishinoya and Tanaka of course, who were ready to pounce if Oikawa ever came near their Madonna.

"Hey, kawaii-chan. You didn't hear me, did ja?"

It was when Oikawa stood unbelievably close to her that their heads turned so fast they could have gotten whiplash. Except for Hinata, who tripped over nothing and landed on his face in true Shoyo-fashion.

"D-Da-Dai- Daiō-sama is hitting on Yachi-san!"

It might have sounded mean, but the Karasuno boys have never expected something like it.

And Yachi didn't blame them either when everyone basically gawked at the situation.

Both Tanaka and Nishinoya were slack jawed as Oikawa all but smiled unashamedly at the quivering girl, pulling out something akin to a pair of hair clips from his pocket. He appeared seemingly unfazed by the fact that Yachi was trembling like a leaf, eyes looking everywhere but at the Captain of Sejou's volleyball club. His smile widened. _"How cute."_

The third years were equally speechless when Oikawa held her chin so that she was looking up at him and used his other hand to pin her front bangs with a pair of familiar star-shaped clips that the girl wore to school every day.

By that point Asahi's ears were turning red.

"You dropped these when you went to the bus."

She nodded as he let her chin go, cheeks painted red as she thanked him.

Iwaizumi sighed as he watched his childhood friend tilt his head sideways and said something to the poor girl who blushed even harder. Her face was starting to resemble a tomato. _"Geez, read the situation you idiot."_

Well, the other Seijoh club members were carrying on as usual, so everything was okay. But for the other team... he contemplated about saying something to their Captain to get the guys back on track, but it seemed that they were finally carrying on with warm-ups.

But Number 10 and Kageyama still had their eyes trained on Oikawa, as if they were her bodyguards.

Iwaizumi couldn't blame them for being extra careful, because Oikawa could be a wolf sometimes.

* * *

"Thank you for having us. It was a good match."

Oikawa smiled as he took Daichi's hand in his. "The pleasure is all mine. Come again, yeah?"

His smile widened a fraction as he felt the extra squeeze Daichi gave him before returning the smile.

"I guess so, Oikawa."

That extra squeeze was probably due to either the fact that Karasuno lost again or that Oikawa had been hitting on Yachi. It might be both, but he could care less, really.

Iwaizumi lightly punched Oikawa's shoulder as he stood next to the Captain, watching as the Karasuno team loaded their equipment into the bus. His eyes caught Yachi's as she looked up from helping Hinata zip up his overstuffed bag, and nodded to her. She nodded back, and made the mistake of chancing a glance towards a grinning Oikawa.

"Bye-bye, Yacchan!"

She blushed and quickly looked away, patiently waiting for the boys to finish loading their bags before boarding the bus. Iwaizumi nudged him with an elbow.

"Oi, don't do that. You're scaring her."

"No I'm not. She's totally charmed by me. See, she's coming here."

True enough, she was walking towards them, the furious blush on her cheeks cooling down into pink hues. Iwaizumi turned towards the ruckus in front of the bus, and nearly laughed out at the scene. The third years were holding the curious guys back from eavesdropping, and Shorty Number 10 was torn between holding Kageyama back and joining the hot headed setter.

Yachi, was it? He felt Oikawa subtly nudging him with an elbow, a hint for the Seijoh's Ace to go somewhere else so that the girl could talk to the flamboyant Captain alone, but apparently Iwaizumi wasn't taking that. Hell no. He was kind of enjoying this too much.

"U-Um… Than-Thank you, Daiō-san. For picking up my hair clips."

For a moment, Iwaizumi thought he saw Oikawa's left brow tick. He had to bite his inner cheek to hold in his laughter. Oh how he knew how much the Captain hated that name, especially since that nickname was derived from Kageyama's. But Oikawa was nothing if not a gentleman, and effortlessly widened his smile as the girl looked up at him and gave a shaky smile.

"Well I'd hate it if you lost them. You're cute with them on."

Her wide eyes blinked as he said that out. And Oikawa looked as if he had screwed up.

"So um…So if I'm not wearing them then I'm not-"

"I mean, you're still cute without them."

Yachi blinked again, and Oikawa continued, although he didn't have to. "It's just that they belong to you. So it's not good if you lost them."

She looked surprised for a while, before she smiled sweetly. "You're a nice person, Daiō-san."

"Hitoka-chan, let's go!"

She smiled again, and this time it wasn't hesitant. "I should take my leave now. Iwaizumi-san too, thanks for having us."

Karasuno High took off, and both Seijoh's Ace and the Captain stood there as they watched the bus go, eventually disappearing from their sight. It took a few minutes of silence as they stayed rooted at the same spot, hands in their pockets, when the spiky haired athlete noticed Oikawa's red ears. He wasn't showing his face, but Iwaizumi had been with him for years and could easily tell that the flamboyant, holier-than-thou Captain was probably still thinking about that sweet smile the girl gave him.

"So she comes up to you and smiles and now you're all wet."

"What's with that? You're being vulgar Iwa-chan."

"What are you, a grade schooler?"

Oikawa cleared his throat and scratched the back of his head.

"Oh shut up."

* * *

 **Thank you for reading. ^^**

 **Constructive comments are most welcome.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Yabai Koi Series**

 **A/N:** thank you for the reviews, I appreciate it. I kinda did a victory dance each time a review came in. glad you liked the first chapter, because I haven't written in quite a while so I'm afraid I've lost my touch. But anyway, for those who asked, this story is a place where I will post oneshots about Yachi and Oikawa, and some of them won't be related to one another. If there are connecting entries then I'll make sure to tell first. And thanks for reminding me about end notes, I used to do that for my stories but I've kinda forgotten about it for this one.

 **Disclaimer: Haikyuu!** Does not belong to me, nor does yacchan.

 **Summary:** Because according to Kageyama-kun, everything about Oikawa was 'yabai'.

 **#2:** She was just too cute that he couldn't help himself.

* * *

He stood by the gates, aware of the stares he was getting from the people around him, mostly women. Of course they were looking, he knew all too well how popular he was with the opposite sex, and he reveled in it. Spending most of his time with a bunch of high school guys from the Volleyball club was one of the reasons for that. Fighting down a potentially big grin on his face, Oikawa stuffed his hands into his pockets as he made his way through Karasuno's School grounds. Festive music blared through speakers, installed at intervals of four stalls apart. Kids were running around, excited to see what the school festival had to offer. Despite him being from a prestigious school, Oikawa was impressed at the amount of people who turned up.

"Oi, TrashyKawa. What took you so long?"

He didn't have to look up from his phone to know who it was. Locking the phone screen, he turned to his friend, who was busily munching away on a plate of Takoyaki.

"Iwa-chan, there you are. I was about to look for you."

Said name swallowed a piece of the treat. "Bet you were more interested in picking up girls."

It was partially true, so Oikawa didn't bother to rephrase it. "Well, I didn't come here to look at guys now did I? What are we doing here anyway?"

The team Captain watched as his friend swallowed up a mouthful of the treat, finishing it off altogether before answering him. "Because you said you were dumped and you didn't have anything better to do."

At this, Oikawa bristled. "Iwa-chan! I wasn't dumped. I told you already, we broke up. Not that we ever really dated ya know."

"Uh huh."

"I tell nothing but the truth."

"Whatever. You still have nothing to do, right? So here we are. And I heard the Karasuno volleyball club is opening a haunted house."

He waved at a pair of girls who were ogling him, and distractedly replied. "Haunted house? Lame."

Despite saying that, he still walked towards the gymnasium with Iwaizumi walking next to him.

"Look out for a girl wearing bunny ears. I heard she's giving out free candy. You can give 'em to Takeru."

He made a noncommittal sound, and hoped that the bunny girl would be cute. They were halfway to the gym when they heard a very familiar voice calling for customers at a stall. Turning their heads, a grin lit up Oikawa's face as he saw Hinata manning a Yakisoba bread stall. The shorter boy pointed a finger at him.

"Ah! What are you doing here, Daiō!"

Oikawa noticed fleetingly that the carrot-head had dropped the _–sama_ suffix, but didn't care either way. He still hated the name.

"Well if it isn't Chibi-chan!"

"It's Hinata!"

"Aren't getting enough customers are we now?"

Iwaizumi thought that it was only right for Hinata to look really annoyed for that.

He raised a brow as he saw a few other props next to the stall. There was a mini photo booth with black drapes and had fake bats hung above a life-size cardboard cutout of some tall dude in a Dracula costume. Some boxes sprayed with black paint were made out to be makeshift tables with jars of fake ears and other edible human anatomies. A tripod holding up a camera was set to stand a couple of meters from the booth. The fake teeth in a jar right next to a glowing skull looked disturbingly real. It was kind of gross, but cool at the same time. He couldn't really decide.

"What are you guys really doing?"

The orange-head who had been fuming at Oikawa seconds ago immediately had his eyes sparkling with the excitement of a toddler with his first tricycle.

"We're using the gym for a haunted house- Ah! Hey, put that back!"

The Seijou's Ace stifled a sigh as he watched his Captain take a Yakisoba bread and held it above and away from Hinata, his other hand pushing at the shorty's forehead. It was at times like this that Iwaizumi could kind of guess the reason that, despite having the brains, looks and talents, Oikawa's previous girlfriends always end up breaking it off with him.

" _Are you really a High School senior?"_

He was surprised that the flashy setter even had girls still swooning after him.

"Stop that TrashyKawa."

Iwaizumi grabbed the bread from him and put it back in with the other bread piled up before Hinata. "You're not selling yakisoba bread?"

"Oh, this here is a freebie! Buy a ticket to the haunted house or take a picture with Dracula-san there at the booth and you get a Yakisoba bread!"

Oikawa stifled a laugh. He couldn't decide whether to call the idea smart or dumb.

"Oi, Chibi-chan-"

"I told you, it's HI-NA-TA!"

"Yeah, okay. Is the haunted house good?"

Hinata made an offended face. "What do you mean by good? It's friggin' awesome I tell ya. If you don't go now then the guys might just close it off since the waiting line is long."

Tilting his head to one side, Oikawa put a finger to his chin and made a motion as if he was thinking about it.

"Hmm…"

"That was really drawn out ya know. Don't believe me now, do ya?"

The older guy gave a shrug. "Well, I guess I can take a look. C'mon, ticket please."

Grudgingly, Hinata pulled out a small 2x3-inch card with some words and numbers printed on it.

"I don't wanna give you one, but at the same time I really want you to go there since it's awesome."

Iwaizumi picked up a jar of eyes and motioned to the Dracula cardboard cutout.

"Are you guys on break or something? This guy looks like he needs some company."

"We're gonna get more customers after Yachi-san finishes her rounds."

Oikawa was poking at the glowing skull when his ears picked up Yachi's name.

"Say, Chibi-chan-"

"It's Hinata!"

"Speaking about Yacchan-"

"You can't call her that-"

Iwaizumi snorted as he saw Oikawa's brow tick in annoyance. God, how childish can he get?

"Why can't I call her that? It's fitting for a cute girl like her."

Hinata gave him the 'evil eyes', well, as much as he could possibly do with his large bright orbs, and crossed his arms.

"Bet 'cha say that to the other girls."

"That's because all girls are cute."

"And _that's_ why you're the only one who can't call her that. Geez, stop hitting on Yachi-san if you're not serious."

For a moment, Oikawa was silent, and Iwaizumi saw an expression he had not seen his friend show for quite a long time. Hurt. The expression was only there for a few seconds, before the Seijoh's captain put up his mask and flashed a teasing grin.

"Then Hitoka-chan it is~"

"HAA?!"

"You see, when a girl gets called by their given name, they become all sparkly and pretty. But I guess you wouldn't know since you're not popular~"

"HAA?!"

Oikawa was having fun teasing Hinata when a familiar voice spoke up from behind Iwaizumi.

"Hinata, you're gonna scare the customers and Sawamura-san will get angry again."

Both the carrot-head and the setter turned around, and that was when they saw Hitoka Yachi appearing from behind the spiker's tall body. Casually, Iwaizumi greeted her.

"Oh, hey there. Oh? What's this?"

Hinata's face brightened up at the line of new customers trailing behind the girl.

"Welcome! Welcome! You can get your tickets here!"

Oikawa had to move aside when the group of people started crowding the stall, still in a trance the moment he saw Yachi. He had to refrain from rubbing his eyes just to make sure that what he was seeing was real. He didn't know who designed the maid costume with the bunny ears and bob tail she was wearing, but it suited her perfectly. Especially since she was small and had very large eyes. Very pretty and bright eyes. Her star clips were gone, and the headband with the pair of pink bunny ears held her hair back. In the middle of her chest, a black ribbon sat there. A little girl, probably five year old, played with the pink bobtail that was sewn onto the back of the dress, that had sat nicely at the base of her spine. That was when he noticed her skirt. The black and white skirt was short, and her legs were covered with a pair of white thigh high socks. Those socks were always a killer.

So the bunny girl Iwaizumi mentioned was her, out of all people.

He turned his eyes downwards, and when he looked back up, he swallowed.

" _Crap, this is bad."_

He knew the girl was quite interesting, and he had made an offhanded comment to Iwaizumi before that she was the kind of girl who was cute even without trying to be. And at first, she had just been an acquaintance, someone he knew from another school. Then when he saw that the girl was friends with Kageyama and Hinata he felt intrigued. it was odd yet entertaining to see how the trio looked to be at ease with each other, never mind the occasional squabbles between the two boys. Kindaichi had commented that Yachi was probably the only girl Kageyama was close to, and it had perked his interest in the first-year manager.

Iwaizumi had told him to knock it off that one time, when he had sauntered towards the girl when they visited Karasuno for a friendly match to promote sports in Miyagi. Because it was apparent that Oikawa was trying to get close to the girl just because he wanted to frazzle Kageyama.

But somehow, after some coincidences of bumping into the girl at town, they became a little bit more than acquaintances. Then they became friends of some sort. Then when one day, she was hit on by some guys from Johzenji High School at a fireworks festival, something ticked in Oikawa. She had thanked him for shaking the guys off, and said something about getting separated from Kageyama and Hinata. Somehow the sight of her warmed up his chest and for a moment he had not known what to say, when suddenly a blur of orange and black rushed towards the girl, checking if she was okay.

That was then, and after a few more friendly greetings whenever they happened to be in the same train, he realized that Hitoka Yachi was an oddity in his life that he never thought would have made him feel like the most important guy in the world. But this… and _damn_ if his friend was talking to her so casually too. And there he was, trying not to act like a lovesick person. Isn't this a little bit too much? Did the Man Up There hate him? Was he doing this purposely so that Oikawa would die of overheating?

He nearly jumped a bit as he heard her calling out to him, holding out a small hand brimming with candy. She smiled up at him, her cheeks tinted with pink from the warm sun. Despite the sun, he could feel the hairs at the back of his neck stand up.

"Here, for Takeru-kun."

"Ah, thanks Hitoka-chan."

She appeared to be caught off-guard, since it had been a while for someone to call her by her given name. Then she smiled again, her cheeks warming up a little bit more.

" _How can she be this cute? Damn it."_

Watching from the sidelines, munching on a piece of candy that Yachi had given him, Iwaizumi thought that it was quite entertaining to see his friend trying to maintain his cool when he obviously looked like some cupid had shot an arrow through his heart. A smirk stretched over his face when Oikawa cleared his throat, and trying to mask the evident adoration in his eyes, he followed up with a smile and a friendly comment that made Yachi smile even more.

The spiker knew the reason why Oikawa broke up with the recent girl he dated not more than three months. Yachi was what happened.

He had overheard the conversation between the girl and his friend behind the gym, and she was saying something about Oikawa being childish and wishy-washy in dating her. When the Captain didn't deny that, the girl then said something that made Oikawa miss his serves one after another during the after-school club practice.

" _ **You're thinking of someone else aren't you, Tōru-kun."**_

Judging from the way his friend flinched whenever their coach mentioned about practice matches with Karasuno, he knew the girlfriend had been right.

Popping another candy into his mouth, Iwaizumi was brought back to his conversation with his friend just after he realized that he kind-of-sort-of liked the small manager of the Karasuno's Boys' Volleyball team. It was out of the blue, really. When they had been on their way back to Oikawa's house for some studying, the setter had stopped in the middle of the road and said, in a very unsure voice, that he 'thinks he's starting to like Yacchan'. Then he went onto saying that he liked her a lot but she would never really take him seriously since he was THE Tōru Oikawa, the flashy, lady killer Daiō-san. When he started saying that he should date someone to get his mind off her, Iwaizumi was starting to get irritated at his hesitance, and ended up head butting his friend for being so unlike himself.

" _ **Stop bullshitting me. You know that's not true, idiot."**_

But alas, Oikawa still went and dated a girl for such a stupid excuse. He sighed.

He didn't mind that Oikawa was starting to feel like he was worth some loving, but it was starting to get on his nerves when his friend keeps on holding back on his feelings. It was getting annoying as hell.

" _Go and ask her out already, dumbass."_

And now he was starting to think like Kageyama.

* * *

True to Hinata's words, the Haunted House was actually pretty good. The décor and props looked real, and the monsters and ghosts that popped out made Iwaizumi swear a whole lot throughout the whole fiasco. Oikawa tried keeping his cool, but the moment Karasuno's Ace spiker crawled out of a makeshift well at the end of the pathway, he could swear both him and Iwaizumi shouted out simultaneously. Asahi Azumane could have been scary with just his hair let down.

When they exited the gym, Oikawa spotted Yachi giving out some candy to a group of elementary boys. A group of _blushing_ and _giggling_ elementary boys. When they thanked her, she gave a smile and waved at them as they ran to play somewhere else. When she turned around, his eyes caught her brown ones, and she jogged towards them, the basket of candy she was holding being almost empty. Iwaizumi was already checking out a target-practice booth by the time she reached him, her face beaming.

"How was it? How was the haunted house?"

He grinned. "Pretty good. Whose idea was it?"

She fanned herself with her free hand, her cheeks pink out of both exhaustion and the warm sun. His hand itched to pull out a tissue and wipe the sheen of sweat on her forehead and temples, and instead he stuffed it into his pocket.

"It was Shimizu-senpai's and Sugawara-san's idea. The Yakisoba bread was Kageyama-kun's."

He laughed. "Figures."

Yachi laughed along. "And I'm in charge of promotions. I'm pretty surprised that I managed to pull in customers."

"Why? You did a good job though."

She was picking at a small ribbon sewn onto the skirt and sheepishly giggled. "W-well Shimizu-senpai was supposed to wear this costume, but she's a committee member of this festival so she was busy with rounds. And she didn't want to wear it. Tanaka-senpai and Nishinoya-senpai even went to Akihabara to rent this just so that Shimizu-senpai could wear it."

"You didn't want to wear this?"

At this she laughed again. "We-Well, you see… wouldn't this suit Shimizu-senpai more? I-I mean, I'm not as pretty as her."

Oikawa swept his eyes over her, stopping a heartbeat at her lips. Finally he smiled. "If I hadn't known better, I'd say this was meant for you."

He watched as she looked up at him, surprised. Then she laughed good-naturedly, holding her stomach as she laughed a bit more. She reached up a hand to wipe at a tear that fell down.

"Oikawa-san, you should really work on your pickup lines. But thank you, that was sweet of you."

She grabbed his hand, and put some more candy into his large palm. "There you go, I'm giving you the last ones."

Oikawa could feel his ears turning hot. Did she just think he was joking? He was serious though.

Before she retracted her hand, he quickly grabbed onto it, trapping the candy between their clasped ones. Some of them dug into his skin. But he didn't seem to care.

"But I'm serious. I'm saying that you're pretty, Hitoka-chan."

At this, her cheeks began to color into a pretty blush, and her lips were trying to form words.

"U-Um… O-Okay. Um, th-thank you…"

When they heard Iwaizumi called out to him, Yachi could feel Oikawa's grip loosening slightly.

"U-Um… M-My hand…"

Reluctantly, the setter let go of her small hand, and stuffed his into his pocket. "I really do think you're pretty, Hitoka-chan."

Yachi chanced a look at him, and immediately looked away, her blush deepening. She bit her lip, not knowing what to say, when Iwaizumi came up to lightly punch Oikawa's shoulder.

"Yo, let's go grab the freebie. Oh, Yachi. Thanks for the candy. And the haunted house was hella scary. Good job on that."

She wordlessly nodded and thanked the spiky haired guy, and excused herself from them, hurriedly walking away. Iwaizumi raised a brow as he heard Oikawa sigh, and poked his side.

"What? Did I interrupt something?"

* * *

After grabbing a Yakisoba bread –Oikawa had to fight his freebie from Hinata's reluctant hands- they stopped at a few other stalls. They were both sitting at a bench facing the soccer field, where a bouncing castle had been put up for children. Iwaizumi won a couple of tickets to the zoo from a game stall, and had a satisfied look on his face.

"I'm going home. You staying here or not?"

Oikawa cracked his knuckles and watched as a toddler excitedly led his mother towards the bouncing castle.

"I'll stay a little bit longer, I guess."

Iwaizumi stood up from the bench, and watched as his friend stare at nothing in particular. He thought of the way Yachi was acting earlier and knew that something happened between them. Knowing Oikawa, it was probably something the guy said.

"Did you do something stupid again, idiot?"

That got Oikawa's attention. The volleyball captain huffed. "Why is it always my fault? Geez."

His friend rested a hand on his hip and smirked. "You probably scared her with one of your cheesy pickup lines didn't cha?"

He snorted when Oikawa pouted. "You know, if you were honest enough, she would probably believe you."

Oikawa groaned, and threw up his hands in the air. "But I _was_ being serious. She practically ran away from me though."

A smile stretched over the spiker's face. He laughed, and messed up Oikawa's hair. His friend let out a frustrated yell when he did that.

"Why don't you try telling her again? Properly this time."

Standing up, Oikawa tried to smooth out his mussed hair. "What _should_ I do, she'll never take me seriously. She's probably creeped out by me. Iwa-chan, I-"

"I-I wasn't creeped out at all, Oikawa-san."

Both head turned to her as she walked up to them. The basket with candy was no longer with her, and she was nervously bunching the hems of her skirt. Iwaizumi chuckled as he turned to his friend, who looked like he wanted to just run away from the girl and hide somewhere until his embarrassment subsided. He slapped Oikawa's back, surprising the tall guy and gave him a thumbs up before jogging away from the two.

" _Be sure not screw up things again, idiot."_

Oikawa watched, as his friend's back disappeared from his sight, and turned to the girl standing in front of her. He opened his mouth to say something when he saw a blur of orange and black hurrying towards them from behind Yachi. Not thinking twice, he grabbed her hand and hurriedly pulled her towards the back of a stall selling candied apples. He sighed when both Kageyama and Hinata ran past them, seemingly in a stupid race again.

"Um, where are you taking me, Oikawa-san- Oomph."

He stopped quite suddenly and she crashed into him. Grabbing her shoulders, he pulled her away. He then gave her a smile, one that did not reach his ears.

"Do you know where we can talk privately?"

Yachi rubbed her sore nose, and nodded. Her eyes dropped to his free hands, and swallowed.

"Can I um… hold your hand?"

Oikawa blinked, and he dumbly nodded. A smile broke out on her face and he wished he had wiped his sweaty hands before she grabbed one of them in her small one.

"Then um… over here."

For anyone seeing them, it was odd to see a girl leading a guy with his height by the hand. But the weird looks were the least of his concerns as they arrived at the empty corridors of the third year building. Yachi stopped in front of a class, and turned around to face him.

"So um…. About earlier… I believed you, Oikawa-san."

Said name scratched the back of his head and cleared his throat. "But you ran away. I creeped you out didn't I?"

"No!"

Her voice filled the empty space, and he jumped a bit. She noticed that she had shouted, out of panic, and bit her lip.

"I-I mean, I wasn't creeped out at all. I was just… surprised, is all. I mean, you were always saying that to other girls, and you always tell me I'm cute so flippantly-"

He bristled at that. "Flippant? I was-"

She reached up and covered his mouth with her hands, her cheeks red.

"Well Kageyama-kun always tells me that you're always saying the same thing to girls. And Hinata told me that you just liked to tease people. So I thought that this time, you were just teasing me as usual…"

Yachi felt his hot breath against her hand, and quickly pulled back.

"… so when you suddenly said it so seriously I freaked out. Because I didn't know you really thought of me that way."

It was silent for a few seconds, when Oikawa spoke up matter-of-factly.

"But you _are_ pretty. And cute. I mean it."

Yachi looked up at him, and her cheeks colored again as the sight of his handsome face. He looked embarrassed as he admitted.

"To me you're always cute, and I couldn't tell it to you honestly before because you never took me seriously. It was killing me, seeing you all those times and knowing that if I tell you you're pretty you'll just laugh."

She gasped, and made a ninety degree bow. "I-I'm so sorry!"

Seeing her hunched over figure, Oikawa sighed. He brought up a hand and gently tucked her hair behind an ear.

"But today you just appeared out of nowhere looking so pretty I couldn't help myself. So you're partly to blame for me acting all weird today."

"I'm sorry for appearing out of nowhere."

She looked up and slowly began to smile. He smiled back, and she giggled. Suddenly they were both laughing. Oikawa pinched her cheeks, and grinned as she yelped.

"Hey, I've been wanting to ask you for a while now."

She rubbed her red cheeks, bits of laughter still bubbling from her lips. "What is it?"

Yachi didn't see it coming when he swooped down and kissed her cheek. She could feel his smiling lips on her warm cheek as he spoke up.

"Go out with me."

She stood frozen, as he straightened up. He chuckled as her hands flew to her face, covering her burning cheeks. Her mouth felt numb as she tried to form an answer. She didn't get to though, when a loud gasp was heard from behind Oikawa. She heard him curse softly before they both turned to the person who interrupted them.

"Hi-Hinata-"

The ominous aura surrounding the carrot head and his trusted partner and rival could unnerve anybody. But apparently Oikawa was not someone to feel intimidated by the duo's murderous glares. If anything, it only served to amuse the setter. The dark aura intensified as Oikawa smirked.

"Yo, Chibi-chan, Tobio-chan. How ya doin'?"

* * *

 **A/N:** I don't know what happened, I didn't plan for this chapter to flow this way. Oh well.

 **Daiō** : Grand/Great King. Something that Hinata likes to call Oikawa in the canon series.

 **Takoyaki:** Fried dumplings made of flour, minced cabbage and has pieces of octopus in them. Very good stuff I tell ya. You can google for image.

 **Yakisoba bread:** It's basically a hotdog bun stuffed with fried noodles instead of hotdogs. A staple food for Japanese youth, I guess.

So I thought of skipping the explaining, but I think that some of the readers would want to know what and why I chose 'Yabai Koi' as the name. So here we go:

 **Koi:** love. I think most of us know this right?

 **Yabai:** People normally used to use it to mean "Look out!" or "Heads up!" The 'Yabai' that I used in the summary is used to say that something is "bad" or "up to nothing good"… well something like that. So in the overall summary it means that Kageyama is saying that everything about Oikawa is 'not good'. You get my point, right? So there was an element of danger to it- this is only used figuratively now. Something bad happens and we say _yabai_ to mean "Now I'm in for it!"

However, 'yabai' is also used as a slang of sorts. Just like how the word 'sick' is used nowadays to say that something or someone is very good or awesome, like when someone says that the new iphone is 'sick', then he means that the new iphone is something terribly good. So for Japanese, when something good happens and they say _yabai_ , they're saying that whatever is so good is going to make them lose control. Or that something is so good that they can't really stop liking it.

In this story I'm using 'yabai' to signify both meanings. In saying that Oikawa couldn't help himself but fall for Yachi, and the fact that he doesn't know why and couldn't seem to stop liking her is both good and bad for him, which is 'yabai'. The same applies to Yachi, especially since being friends with Kageyama, he might probably have told her at some point that Oikawa is always up to no good, with his scheming and all.

So Yabai Koi means… it's pretty hard to explain in words but if I have to put an English word to it then 'Yabai Koi' means 'In Too Deep'. I hope you get what I mean. Hope this helps.


	3. Chapter 3

**Yabai Koi Series**

 **A/N:** In the mood for gender-swap, anyone?

 **Disclaimer: Haikyu!** is not mine.

 **#3:** Her eyes were the color of delicate cinnamon with a deep brown rim around the iris, and reminded him of sweet chocolate, that melts at the slightest bit of warmth from love, happiness. Whenever she was hurt and tears glossed over her brown orbs, it was like looking into sunlight through whiskey. It was frightening how much he loved her. Hitoka always found himself wondering, why on earth would Tōru love someone like him.

* * *

Hitoka Yachi liked to think of himself as a background character. He didn't like to stand out too much. Even though his girlish name was something people had made fun of back in elementary school, somehow everyone didn't seem to bother with it after he entered middle school. He had worked hard in his studies through junior high, and upon entering high school, he had managed to put himself in the advanced class. He had friends, very ordinary friends, who liked to study as much as he did and had been satisfied with studying and making his single mother proud, happy to be in his own little world.

But for all he was, although he was considered small and a little bit too fragile as a boy, Hitoka would very much like to help people. He didn't look like it, being timid and all, but there was a part of him that wanted to reach out to a lot of people. He grew up watching his mother making the lives of others happy with her designs, and he aspired to be the same.

But it was _because_ he was timid and couldn't seem to muster enough courage to speak up his mind, Hitoka remained unheard. And he gravitated towards focusing on studying instead, and started planning his life.

He had his life mapped out for himself, and he was doing an excellent job of keeping in line.

That was until he had met her. Tōru Oikawa.

* * *

[ _4 years ago, Hitoka Yachi, age: 15_ ]

He had known that Aoba Johsai was an academically renowned school, but what he hadn't known was that academics was one-half of the reason Seijoh was one of the best institutions in Tōhoku. After a couple of weeks into school, he learned that the other half reason that made Aoba Johsai so famous was because of their Volleyball Club, specifically, the girls' team. The fact that they had contributed to the most wins for Tōhoku consequently made the school a powerhouse, just next to Shiratorizawa and Karasuno. In fact, a year prior to Hitoka entering the school, the girls' team became one of the best four in nationals… was what his classmates were saying, one day when they saw the Volleyball Club doing laps around the soccer field for after-club practice.

He nodded, understanding that getting into Aoba Johsai really was a big deal after all. He pulled out his pencil case, ready to start on some homework while waiting to tutor a girl he knew from the neighborhood association gatherings. His classmate, the one that was gushing over the volleyball girls minutes ago, got a little too animated and bumped into the corner of his desk, and Hitoka jumped a bit at the sudden intrusion.

"U-Um… Fuji-san…"

Said name turned around and smiled apologetically. "Sorry 'bout that. But seriously, Yachi-kun. The volleyball girls are very pretty I tell ya! Don't you think so?"

Hitoka nodded again, giving the boy a small smile. "If you say so, then they most probably are."

It was not that Hitoka Yachi didn't like girls, or was not attracted to them, but he had more things on his mind. Like studying and getting into Tōdai.

He could hear the coach telling the girls to pick up pace, and he took a peek at the team. They were nearly finished with their laps, and were returning to the volleyball club's gym. Yes, the volleyball club had their own gymnasium. A new one, apparently.

Feeling his face warming up when one of them caught him looking and smiled, Hitoka quickly turned his attention to his work.

Well, his classmate was right. The girls were not just athletic and tall, they were beauties to boot.

And amidst of all the fame and glory, Tōru Oikawa, then a third year and the Captain of the team, was the most popular of them all.

* * *

[ _present time_ ]

Hitoka breathed out a sigh and pulled the front of his shirt, fanning himself. Taking refuge from the hot sun underneath a tree, he sat down and watched as the Volleyball Society members filed out of the gym for the last round of laps before calling it a day. A smile lit up his face as he saw her putting on her outdoor sneakers, laughing at something her friend said. The cap that she put on to protect her from the glaring sun covered her eyes as she stretched to reach her toes, but Hitoka knew that even if she came home with a dark face from all the sunburn, he would still call her beautiful.

Because to him, that was what she was.

* * *

[ _4 years ago, Hitoka Yachi, age: 15._ ]

When Hitoka first heard of the third year, he was in the bookstore, searching for new recipe books to try out. His mother had just installed a new oven, apparently a gift from his divorced father. Fighting down a smile, Hitoka suspected that maybe his dad was trying to get back together with her.

He had been contemplating whether to purchase the green book or the orange book, when he overheard a couple of guys giggling at the magazine section.

"Aw geez, Oikawa's done it again, man. Isn't she like, trying a little too hard?"

"What d'ya mean?"

"I mean, she's can't be _that_ good. Being a talented setter doesn't mean she's the best right? I don't think being a good setter has anything to do with the team winning anyway."

Hitoka blinked, his eyes still on the two books in his hand, but not really looking. His ears were oddly interested in what the guys were talking about. Thinking about it again, his classmate –Fuji-san, he guess- was gushing about a sports magazine that morning. Apparently, the volleyball girls had made it into the quarterfinals for prelims, and they had three pages in one of the most popular sports magazine dedicated to only them. What made the school proud even more was that the regulars' team photo was the cover page. His mother designed the cover page so he kind of knew beforehand. He probably shouldn't tell that to Fuji-san, else he would get overly jealous.

But what really caught their eyes was that, among the three pages covering the team, a whole page was dedicated to Oikawa.

"Well, you see, she's the prettiest here, right? I bet that's the reason."

"Damn, you're mean."

"Well duh. Look here. It doesn't really matter if she's smart or anything, just look at her body! Man, pretty girls have it easy huh?"

Hitoka Yachi knew that he had to say something. Maybe it was mostly due to the fact that he grew up watching his single mother work hard, but it didn't sit well with him whenever guys made comments like that. His mother had called him a feminist once, and he was starting to think so himself.

He knew he had to say something, but he might get into trouble. What if he spoke up to them? They might turn out to be from some yakuza gang, and send someone to stalk him, and then when there would be nobody around he would be tied up and thrown into the sea to drown. Worse yet, before he drowned he might get eaten up by a giant Tsuchinoko and die slowly by suffocating. Or worse yet-

"I totally get it if she's dated like, a thousand VIPs with that body."

"That could be true, ya know. With all the attention she's getting."

After battling with his inner self, Hitoka decided that he should really say something. He cursed his cowardly self. Being a coward wasn't going to solve anything. Taking a breath, he gripped the books tightly in his hands, before he finally looked up.

"Um… I think…That's not something nice to say."

He had always thought that had he not bothered to look up from his to-be choice of book, fretting about yakuza and getting eaten by a giant mythical creature, Hitoka probably would have never had dated Oikawa.

* * *

She reached up a hand to rub gingerly at her left cheek, cringing when she could feel the sting. Huffing, she picked up her bag that was thrown off her shoulder a mere minutes ago when her boyfriend, now ex-boyfriend, slapped her.

"Stupid bloke." She grumbled as she straightened her clothes and patted her backside.

Oikawa cracked her knuckles, and walked to the front of the gym, checking if everyone had gone home already. It wouldn't do if someone were to witness the bad breakup just now. If word got out that she was dating a delinquent from Ōgi Minami then her career was done for. She worked hard to be the Captain and the all-rounder player that she was, and she wasn't going to let her feelings and relationships be the end of her chance to get scouted into the National Volleyball Squad.

She cracked a smirk. Huh, no wonder he flipped when she brought that up. How fitting for her.

Noting that no one was there, she let out a sigh. "I'm safe."

"What do you mean by safe, ShittyKawa."

Clicking her tongue, she turned around to meet her best friend. Though she doubted if a friend would have called her bestie 'ShittyKawa'. She grinned, ignoring the sting from her cheek.

"Yo, what's up Iwa-chan!"

Iwaizumi sighed as she noticed the red mark on Oikawa's left cheek. "I was about to head home when I remembered you stayed back."

Blinking, Oikawa tilted her head to the side. "And?"

Sighing, her childhood friend motioned to her left cheek. "I told you, didn't I? That guy was no good."

Shrugging, Oikawa walked past her friend, already knowing that Iwaizumi would walk next to her. "Whatever. It wasn't even serious anyway. And he'd be bad for my career. Geez, I wonder why I even dated that ogre. Besides, there are a bunch of other guys who want me to date them."

"That part of you is so annoying, Oikawa."

Said name winked at her best friend. "Ah, calling me Oikawa now are you? Oh, don't tell me you have a change of heart, Iwa-chan?"

Iwaizumi made a face. "As if, TrashyKawa."

"Ah, so mean~"

Oikawa pouted, and she knew that the setter was trying to make light of the topic. Iwaizumi knew that her friend had been serious about her ex. She looked happy when she was with him, saying that she needed someone who was not uptight in her life, once in a while. Oh how she knew, what Oikawa had gone through to be where they were now.

People thought that Oikawa was a genius. That was not the case.

"Anyway, I was thinking of going to the book store. You coming too, Iwa-chan?"

She raised a brow. "For what? Don't tell me that you're gonna buy copies of that sports magazine."

Oikawa batted her eyelashes, feigning ignorance. God how Iwaizumi wanted to smack the girl. "Eh~ how did you know?"

"I can read you like a book, you idiot. Seriously, you get featured in a magazine and now you're acting like a celebrity."

She grinned. "But I am, right?"

"That part of you is annoying too."

She giggled, and they stopped at the bookstore nearest to their school. She smiled at the newbie part-time worker who welcomed them into the store, and not surprisingly, he blushed and smiled back almost too eagerly. They passed the children's section and were near the home management shelves when Iwaizumi poked Oikawa in the ribs.

"You were doing that on purpose weren't you?"

To her annoyance, the girl in question stuck out the tip of her tongue, acting all ditsy. "Hm… I guess?"

Just as Iwaizumi opened her mouth to say something, they stopped in their tracks as they heard some boys checking out the sports magazine, making comments about the girls' volleyball team.

"Oikawa's really popular huh?"

"Well yeah, she's like, an idol ya know. Smart, a beauty and talented in sports. She wouldn't have gotten a whole page to herself if she wasn't that popular ya know."

A third guy, who was browsing through a gravure idol magazine a mere moments ago, joined the conversation as he saw Oikawa's page.

"Aw geez, Oikawa's done it again, man. Isn't she like, trying a little too hard?"

"what d'ya mean?"

"I mean, she's can't be _that_ good. Being a talented setter doesn't mean she's the best right? I don't think being a good setter has anything to do with the team winning anyway."

"Well, you see, she's the prettiest here, right? I bet that's the reason."

"Damn, you're mean."

"Well duh. Look here. It doesn't really matter if she's smart or anything, just look at her body! Man, pretty girls have it easy huh?"

"I totally get it if she's dated like, a thousand VIPs with that body."

"That could be true, ya know. With all the attention she's getting."

Iwaizumi could feel her brow twitching and was about to give them a piece of her mind when she felt Oikawa holding onto her elbow. Turning to her friend, she clicked her tongue as Oikawa smiled at him.

"It's okay, Iwa-chan."

She huffed, and remained by Oikawa's side. She knew that it was not okay. How could anyone be okay with that?

They didn't know, how hard the setter worked just to get the perfect serve. How many trips to the hospital she took due to over-exhaustion. Just saying whatever they wanted, Iwaizumi felt like punching every one of them. And she would have, if a boy hadn't spoke up.

"Um…"

The three friends turned around to the voice, and blinked as he spoke up. "I think… That's not something nice to say."

Anyone within a three-yard radius could have seen how fiercely the boy was trembling, just saying that out-loud. One of the three boys raised a brow.

"What, ya got something to say, flaky-boy?"

* * *

Hitoka jumped when all three of them turned to him, towering his small figure.

"U-Um… I-I think… you shouldn't say something like that. I-It's de-demeaning."

One of them, a tall guy with his neck tie loosened, approached the trembling boy. A smirk stretched over his lips as he squeezed the boy's shoulder. Hitoka jumped at the contact, and his head retracted into his shoulders, not unlike that of a turtle.

"We were just looking at some magazines, so what's it to you about what we say?"

Hitoka swallowed. There was no backing off now, he was going to have to go through with it. He just hoped the newbie part-timer had enough sense to call for the manager. Or he was going to go home in bruises. Or he might just end up in some ditch somewhere. Given that they were from the yakuza. He hoped they weren't from the yakuza.

"I-I don't know much about volleyball, but I think that Oikawa-san must have worked hard to be as famous, r-right?"

There were chuckles, and another one of them shoved the magazine into Hitoka's face. He went crossed-eyed, and couldn't really see anything since the page was pulled away as fast as it had come into contact with his face.

"Have you looked at her? Having a pretty face like that… she doesn't really need to be good at sports. Hell, she could be dumb as well and guys wouldn't really care."

Hitoka found it very offensive to say such things, and without thinking he shouted, "I-I don't!"

"Hah? What now?"

The menacing stare made him retract a bit. Swallowing the ever-growing lump in his throat, he continued, "I don't think of it that way. Being featured in a sports magazine doesn't have anything-"

"Geez, speak up man! I can't hear you."

"B-Being! Being featured in a sports magazine! Doesn't have anything to do with her face!"

He had shouted that out-loud in a panic, and suddenly the whole store was silent. If one were to drop a pin that moment, he bet they would hear it loud and clear. The three friends blinked, taken aback at the sudden outburst.

"I-is what I think… Um… yeah. It's because she's an outstanding player that she's able to be in that magazine. So it's not nice to say what you did when she must have tried her best to be an amazing sportswoman."

They remained silent, before the manager swung open his office door. "Hey, you three again! Get out this instant!"

"Geh, let's go guys. It's the old man."

"Who ya callin' old, ya brats!"

The other customers resumed their activities, some pretty impressed at the boy who stood up to the three guys, and some of them who did not even know what had transpired in the store resumed going about their own ways. Hitoka let out a breath that he didn't notice he held in as the manager chased out the three boys, and put down the orange book. Just as he turned to pay for the green one, a voice called out to her.

"Thank you for back there."

He could feel the hairs in the back of his neck stand when the voice reached his ears. Hitoka turned around and there she was. Standing after him was the most beautiful girl he'd ever seen. She wore the Volleyball Club's jersey, and a matching skirt. Her hair was long, wavy, and a pretty shade of brown, falling brilliantly over her chest. The girl's face was milky white, with large dazzling chocolate brown eyes and kissable cherry lips.

He never had kissed anyone but his mom.

The girl was stunningly gorgeous, like a painting of a goddess brought to life. She smiled sweetly at him, her eyes sparkling like stars flaunted on the night sky.

Hitoka could feel his face warming up as he thought of such inner thoughts. It was his mother's fault that he was so poetic. He couldn't help it, she was just too beautiful. The girl next to her was pretty as well, but she was more of a rugged sort of pretty.

"Um… You're welcome?"

He racked his brain, trying to recall anything that he had done to warrant such a beautiful girl saying her thanks to him. The girl giggled, and he could feel his face heating up again. He must have resembled a tomato, he must have. Else the black-haired girl next to her wouldn't be smirking.

The brown haired beauty turned around for a while, took the sports magazine and flipped to a page with the volleyball section. "The name's Oikawa. The very same person you stood up for. This is Iwaizumi-chan."

"Stop putting _chan_ after my name."

Hitoka could feel his stomach falling. Now he'd done it. In true Yachi fashion, he made a dogeza, surprising the two girls.

"I am very sorry! I didn't recognize you! Please don't curse me!"

* * *

Iwaizumi bit her inner cheek, trying not to burst out into laughter. The boy was too funny! Oikawa was taken aback for a few seconds, before she giggled. She lowered herself to sit on her haunches, and smiled as she touched his shoulder.

"It's okay, I won't curse you or anything. Your name?"

The boy looked up from his dogeza, and blushed as he noticed how close the girl was to him. He sat on his heels, thighs pressed together in a formal posture. Scratching the back of his head, he shyly spoke out, "Hitoka Yachi… sir."

At this, Iwaizumi couldn't help herself and burst out laughing. "Sir?"

Hitoka gasped. "I mean ma'am!"

"Why would you use that? Stop that, that's too funny!"

Oikawa smiled sweetly as the boy turned to him, face red. _How cute._

"I think I've seen you before, Yachi-kun."

The boy blinked. "D-D-Did I? When?"

Her smile widened. "You were watching us from your class, weren't you? During after school practice."

He smiled back, although shyly. "Ah, I didn't remember it was you who saw me."

Standing up, Oikawa motioned to the magazine in her hand. "You're not interested in sports?"

Hitoka laughed self-consciously. "It's not that I'm not interested, it's just that I don't really think someone like me would suit sports."

"Hm…"

From beside Oikawa, Iwaizumi had the sneaking suspicion that the setter was up to something. She looked like she was thinking of something when Hitoka spoke up.

"Um, but I mean it when I said that you were an amazing sportswoman. I mean, that magazine's pretty famous, right? They wouldn't have featured you if you weren't outstanding. Um, but I heard that Iwaizumi-san's the ace, so you must also be a good athlete."

It was a very pure comment, one that had no ulterior motive behind it, and immediately Oikawa could feel herself smiling. "Thank you, Yachi-kun. You're a nice person."

Iwaizumi smiled herself, seeing how the boy could make Oikawa show that smile. It had been years since she last saw the setter smile like that, an honest smile.

"Say, Yachi."

The boy turned to her, and Iwaizumi had to admit that he seemed quite flaky. She felt bad to judge him so, but he couldn't help it.

"You a freshman?"

"Ah, yes. First year class five."

She could see Oikawa watching her. "You in any clubs yet?"

"Eh? No, I'm not."

That seemed to have lit a bulb in Oikawa, and she grinned at her friend. She quickly whipped out her cell phone. "Hey, Yachi-kun. How about applying for volleyball?"

Hitoka widened his eyes. "Eh… but I'm no good. I-It sounds embarrassing but I would probably mess up if I were to join."

He heard Oikawa laugh again, and his ears went red. Her voice was just so clear and pretty.

"No, I mean as our manager."

It took a while before the boy realized what came out of Oikawa's mouth. "M-M-Manager? Me?"

* * *

Hitoka sighed as he exited the school grounds, his legs heavy. He had rejected the offer, politely of course, and kind of felt bad about it. It wasn't that he didn't want to, but it was most probably due to the fact that the Volleyball club was the place of the elites. It was a place where talented people gathered, people like Oikawa and Iwaizumi. He didn't belong there, he was just an average person. He didn't possess any skills, he barely passed the physical tests and he didn't know how to even fit in with the kind of people who were too dazzling.

He had tried going to the gym, observing the members. Despite his reluctance to join the team, it didn't mean that he didn't admire the Girls' Team after watching the second-half of their practice match against the varsity team of a local university. Hitoka was never really fond of sports, but anyone in his shoes would have thought that the sight of Oikawa's moves were fascinating. It was like watching a well-planned and orchestrated performance, they way she led her team of first-timer members. They were some rookie blunders, and they eventually lost, but she managed to pull the team together, and made sure that each of them had the chance to contribute points to the team.

She was simply amazing, Hitoka thought.

It was sad to admit it himself, but Hitoka Yachi being in the Volleyball Club would mar their reputation.

He sighed again as he entered an empty house. A bouquet of roses were delivered after he stepped out of the bath. He signed the delivery, placed it on his mother's bed and made a beeline to the kitchen to prepare dinner. He was nearly finished with the curry, when he heard the door open.

"Welcome home, mom."

He smiled to the woman as she poked her head into the kitchen. "What's for dinner, pretty boy?"

Said 'pretty boy' passed two pairs of chopsticks to his mother, motioning to the table. "We're having curry. And stop calling me that, I'm not pretty or anything."

His mother laughed, and smacked his butt before she disappeared into her room to change. He chuckled to himself as she reemerged from her room and pulled him to sit with her at the table.

He was halfway through dinner and listening to his mom talking about the newbie at work when suddenly she popped a question that made him choke.

"Got yourself a girlfriend?"

He coughed violently as the food went into the wrong pipe, and he had to down a glass of water before he stuttered out a response. "N-No, I didn't. Stop surprising me like that mom."

She laughed, and reached across the table to ruffle her son's blonde hair. "You're so cute!"

The blush on his cheeks cooled down and she smiled at him again. He blinked. "What is it?"

His mother shrugged, and with one finishing scoop she finished her dinner. "I saw a club recruitment form. You planning on filling it up?"

Hitoka pursed his lips, and stood up from his seat, picking up his plate. He picked up his mother's too and went to put the dishes in the sink.

"I… don't think I should."

"Why's that? I'm not holding you from doing so."

The boy turned to his mother, a somber smile on his lips. "Can't you see, how I am. I'm not made for clubs. Even being a manager is just…"

"You can't?"

"I don't belong there." He turned to the sink, and started on the dishes. He heard the chair scrape as his mother stood up, and he breathed out a breath he didn't know he was holding.

"So, Hitoka-"

The sudden way his mother appeared from behind him made the hairs on the back of his neck stand. He nearly dropped the soapy plate from the surprise.

"Mom, you scared me!"

Without turning around, he rinsed off a plate, and started on another plate. He could feel his mother's hand on a shoulder, gently squeezing it.

"So you're saying that you don't belong there, when you haven't even tried to be there."

He turned off the tap water, and turned to his mother. "Well, yeah. I mean even if I did go I don't know anything about volleyball."

"You can always learn, Hitoka. What's wrong with you? You're giving these kinds of excuses, it's not like you."

He looked away, trying to avoid his mother's eyes. They were unlike his, always resolute.

"N-Nothing's wrong with me-"

"You didn't bring that paper home just to stare at it, right?"

The boy shrugged. "Well, yeah I guess I didn't."

He sneaked a peek at his mother, and looked away again to avoid those eyes of hers. Eventually she sighed and finally made to leave.

"Hitoka, not trying something new just because you _feel_ like you don't belong, then you're being rude to the people who actually go there because they _want_ to. So quickly make up your mind and don't let them hanging."

Hitoka massaged his temples, trying to figure out a way to get out of the matter at hand. He tried to avoid thinking about paper, and went about finishing his homework. It was getting late, when he finally took out the piece of paper from his drawer. He almost spent two hours staring at the slip of paper, before he decided on an answer.

* * *

The girls stared, not knowing how to make of a sudden new member. And a pretty boy to boot. The boy seemed too scared to come out from behind their coach, and could feel his face burning up from all the attention.

"Hey, girls, don't look at him like that."

The familiar voice made Hitoka look up from staring at the floor, and the relieved smile he had on when he saw her was like a fresh of breath air. She smiled back, and put out her hand.

"Glad you could join us, Yachi-kun."

"There's a lot to learn here so meeting you is a relief, Oikawa-san."

He took her hand in his, and the team captain couldn't help herself from observing him.

Unlike most guys she had dated, who were mostly well-built and taller than her, Hitoka Yachi was the complete opposite. His shoulders were narrow, his short blonde hair fell over his forehead, the top of his head nearly matched Oikawa's in height. The boy was probably an inch shorter, the captain could tell. But there was something about him that she found very pleasing to the eyes. She smiled again he pulled his hand from the handshake, and had to hold back a teasing grin when he blushed and smiled back.

"We have another manager, she's a third year. You can learn from her."

She left Hitoka with their female manager, and resumed her practice with the regulars. Iwaizumi nudged her with an elbow. "I didn't think he'd join us."

Oikawa could feel herself smiling as she saw the boy nodding and taking down notes as he listened to his senior manager explain things to him. A stray ball flew towards him, and his face paled when it barely hit him and bounced against the wall.

"Me too, Iwa-chan."

Iwaizumi watched by the sidelines as the setter and captain threw the ball up and brought it down into one of her jump serves. The ball cut through the air and across to the other side of the net, hitting the ground with a force that could knock the air out of a grown man if he were to be hit in the stomach. She raised a dark brow as she noticed that the serve was in-bound, noting that the captain was in a very good mood. Or she was just not messing up her serves as usual.

"Are you that happy the first year boy joined us?"

Oikawa blinked, and then she giggled. "Ya think?"

She yelped when her childhood friend reached over her to pinch her pointy nose. "Why him anyway? You could have chosen any guy you wanted. Would've been easier and faster, I bet."

There was a giggle, and when Iwaizumi turned around to face the setter, she was met with brown eyes that looked alive and sparkling.

"Because he's… different, I guess. Doesn't look like someone who'd have motives."

At this, the spiker smirked. "Unlike you, who's always cooking up some scheme."

Oikawa winked, "Exactly."

* * *

He finished putting on his outdoor shoes, and had to grip the gym's doorframe for support as he slowly and carefully stood up. He cringed when he felt his muscles screamed from the ache. He could imagine the thousands of muscle cells in his whole body crying out at protest from all the movements of the past three weeks of his days as manager. Poor little things, he thought.

But he thought that all the running around was a breath of fresh air. And watching the girls practice was always a sight for sore eyes. Oikawa's serves were still beautiful. He wondered if he was in love with the third year. The last thought had him shake his head.

No no no. She was out of his league.

Just when he was gingerly taking a slow, careful step, a second-year regular came up from behind him and slapped his back.

"Good work, Yachi-kun!"

He screwed his eyes shut, and bit his lip to stop himself from screaming at the pain. "!"

Damn, he didn't realize that his body was so under-trained. He had been moving things around by himself even more so lately, since he was a guy and apparently everyone in the volleyball club thought that since the girls had amazing stamina, he should probably have the same amount of energy too. They couldn't be more wrong. The girls just had crazy stamina, unlike his scrawny body.

He took a breath, and wiping off a tear in the corner of his eye, he tried moving again. After a few steps, he finally got used to the stretch of his muscles, and started to quicken his pace. He glanced at his watch, and noted that by then the towels he had left out to dry by the taps behind the gym should be dry by then. He would just have to chuck everything into the dryer and take them out the next day to re-aerate before the girls would use them again. He broke into a small jog, just in case the strong wind would blow away the towels.

Hitoka was turning into a corner towards the back of the gym when he saw a group of girls from some another school –judging from their uniform- surrounding a person. Upon further inspection, he realized that the all-familiar grin on the person's face happened to be Oikawa. He was about to call out to her when one of the girls pushed the setter's shoulder.

"Oi, Oikawa! You've got some nerve don't cha, trying to steal my boyfriend."

He blinked, confused as he saw the setter giggle. The sound of it sent shivers down his spine, and not in a good way.

"Which one was he? Can't remember since guys seem to throw themselves at me. I just have too many to choose from."

He cringed as the girl from earlier lose her temper and punched the volleyball player. The way Oikawa fell on her behind with a loud thud made it sound so painful. She smirked and used a hand to wipe off the blood from her cut lip.

"Gosh, you girls are violent bitches. No wonder your boyfriends suck up to me instead."

Hitoka could feel his hands sweat. He should really step in and stop the fight. Iwaizumi had warned him about Oikawa's haters, and he had lightly thought of them as mere jealous girls. He hadn't expected for them to result to battery. He bit his lip when he saw the girl who had hit her –by that time he could have roughly guessed the ringleader- pulled her hair so that she would face the girl. It looked painful, and Oikawa's eyebrows furrowed for a few seconds from the pain, but then she managed to lift the corners of her mouth. "Ah, now I know… your bloke was Tenma huh? I didn't have time for him, he was a loser and a pervert."

"Shut yer trap, you idiot!"

She replied with a snort. That made the ringleader even angrier, and she forced Oikawa to stand up by pulling on the mass of brown hair. She released her hold on the brown hair, and that was when Hitoka saw her bringing up a hand. Just as she brought it down to slap across Oikawa's face, the boy ran up to her and pushed the setter away from the girl, and took the hit for himself. The blow landed on the side of his head instead of his face, and the first thing he saw were stars in the middle of daylight.

For a second, he regretted ever doing so. The slap stung like hell. He became a little unsteady from the force –he couldn't help it, he was never hit so hard before- and his legs gave out. His ears rung, and he couldn't keep his head straight. By that point he even wondered fleetingly if his head was even in place. Images swam through his vision in a blur and a mixture of colors, and he could hear Oikawa's voice calling out to him, before he finally passed out.

* * *

The girls had ran away, fearing that something had gone wrong when the boy was knocked unconscious. Oikawa hurried to his prone body, and gently shook his shoulders. She could feel the quickening of her own heartbeat, and was immediately reminded of his. Lowering her ear onto his chest, she prayed that he was still alive, and nearly cried in relief when she heard his steady heartbeat. He had just passed out, the boy. He probably had never been hit that hard before, else he would have recovered just as quickly as he had hit the ground like a log.

"You idiot, you should've left me alone."

She walked towards her bag and pulled out her phone to call Iwaizumi over. The girl sounded worried and angry through the phone. Of course she would be, Oikawa had involved the new manager into the pointless fight. She didn't even _know_ who the girls were. Tenma was a lucky guess. After asking her friend to bring the school nurse over as well, she ended her call. Sighing, she sat next to the unconscious body, and gently rubbed her thumb across his right cheekbone. A smile lit up her face when he frowned and finally his eyelids fluttered open.

"Oikawa…san…?"

The captain grinned at him, and nodded. "Yo, Yachi-kun!"

The boy was still dazed, and slowly he brought up a hand and gently ran his fingers over her bruised cheek. His brows furrowed slightly as he mistook the subtle blush on Oikawa's injured cheek as a reddening bruise.

"Does it hurt? I'm sorry, I should have come earlier."

Despite herself, Oikawa found herself smiling at him. "I'm fine, Yachi-kun."

His hand dropped heavily next to his head, and it took him a few seconds to realize what had happened. Brown orbs widened, and it was as if seeing a red pen bleed into a piece of wet tissue paper, his face turned red the instant he realized how close their faces were. He looked away, and shyly asked if Oikawa would move a bit so he could sit up.

"S-So um… who were those girls?"

Oikawa shrugged, "Dunno. I was gonna cool off my head under the tap when they called out to me."

Hitoka bristled at that fact. "Then why didn't you tell them so!"

When she answered him flippantly that it was a bother, he was surprised to find himself being angry with her. He gripped her shoulders, face red from anger, and almost shook her when he scolded her.

"You shouldn't lie about things like that! Or else you're gonna hurt yourself, Oikawa-san!"

Oikawa seemed taken aback, and when she recovered from the mild shock, irritation came after. She looked away from him.

"I'm used to these things, I don't care anymore. You saw it for yourself, didn't you? People like to believe what they want to. Even if I told the girls it wasn't me, they wouldn't _believe_ me. Even if I trained so hard to get where I am now… People like those guys at the bookstore would just chalk everything up to me being pretty."

His hold on her slackened, and Hitoka slowly let go of the girl when he saw her eyes. "I-I'm sorry… I just-"

"Whatever anyway, I don't care what people think of me. As long as I'm good at what I do, nothing else really matters."

They sat there in silence, and when she felt like she couldn't take anymore, Hitoka suddenly mumbled something. Oikawa turned to him, a brow raised. "What?"

The boy cleared his throat, and had it not been for her impeccable hearing, she wouldn't have heard him when he said, "I'll take them. All of them, Oikawa-san."

"I don't understand-"

"Don't say you don't care anymore. Y-You're an honest person who works hard despite everything, and I like that side of you. That side of you is… um… b-b-beautiful."

Oikawa had never felt her face burning up as it was then. Looking at how the boy was starting to resemble a tomato, she probably was as red as he was. "What are you talking about, you dope."

Hitoka scratched his chin and turned to her, who was as equally as embarrassed as him. "So tell me when you're hurt, or when you feel sad. I'll take all of it in. I um… I'll protect you."

She blinked, and he squeaked out, "…I guess."

Something bubbled up within Oikawa, and suddenly she felt light. She could feel her lips smiling out of their own accord, and despite her red cheek, she finally laughed. It was not long when Hitoka started to chuckle, cringing when he felt the remnants of the impact he took minutes ago.

"Ouch." He placed a hand over an ear, and laughed sheepishly as Oikawa tried to pry his hand off so that she could see.

"C'mon, let me see." She inched closer, and she missed the way Hitoka screwed his eyes shut to will his embarrassment away.

She saw the red bruise forming on the side of his neck, and gently ran a hand across the red welt. "Yep, this is gonna heal just fine… Speaking of which, where on earth is Iwa-chan? She sure is taking her time."

Oikawa pulled back when it seemed like Hitoka had stopped breathing. The boy was screwing his eyes shut, and she found it funny that he was trying so hard to keep his blush at bay. Geez, he was such a pure kid.

She pinched his cheek, willing him to open his eyes, "Hey, open your eyes."

He did as he was told and could have let out a sigh of relief, before Oikawa decided to swoop in unexpectedly and gently kiss him on the lips. She smiled when he made a sound at the back of his throat when their lips touched. Pulling back, she was about to say something to tease him, when she was met with a very red-faced Hitoka Yachi.

"H-Hey, don't tell that's…"

Hitoka was beyond surprised, that he became mute all of a sudden. The boy covered his lips with the back of his hand, and jerkily nodded.

"Seriously? Your first?"

Another jerky nod.

She was so dumbfounded and before she could even say anything, a blur of black came in between her and Hitoka. She didn't even get to say anything when an angry Iwaizumi headbutt her in between the eyes.

"Oi! What are you doing to the newbie manager, you pervert!"

* * *

[ _present time_ ]

The rain, Hitoka noticed, was like an ally to him. It would always be rainy days when she would forget to bring her umbrella, and would unabashedly stick her body close to him under his.

She looked up at him, smiling cheekily, as if saying that: you can't say no to me, right?

The shivers that went down his spine had nothing to do with the cool rain as he looked back into her eyes. Her eyes were the color of delicate cinnamon with a deep brown rim around the iris, and reminded him of sweet chocolate, that melts at the slightest bit of warmth from love, happiness. Whenever she was hurt and tears glossed over her brown orbs, it was like looking into sunlight through whiskey. It was frightening how much he loved her. Hitoka always found himself wondering, why on earth would Tōru love someone like him.

And she was right. He could never really say no to her when it came to protecting her. From the rain, from anything that might hurt her. He wondered if he was a masochist.

"Yachi-kun you're too kind."

He just smiled at her and shrugged. "Well I promised to protect you, didn't I?"

Hitoka expected her to blush and be all embarrassed, but he knew she wouldn't do that. Of course she wouldn't. He was dating Tōru Oikawa, not some yamato nadeshiko. So it didn't really bother him much when she said,

"For someone who was knocked out-cold by a girl, you sure can say some cheesy lines, pretty boy."

* * *

 **A/N:** so um, this is actually my first attempt ever at writing this type of genre. And I don't think I'm gonna do it again. I feel sick already from all the stress.

 **Tōhoku:** The Tōhoku region.

 **Tsuchinoko:** A Japanese snake-like mythical creature.

 **Dogeza:** grovel

 **Yamato Nadeshiko:** the personification of an idealized Japanese woman. Or the epitome of pure, feminine beauty.


	4. Chapter 4

**Yabai Koi Series**

 **A/N:** I was in the middle of writing up the fourth chapter, hit a writer's block in the middle of it, and suddenly had an idea for a short one. Nothing serious, just some fluff. AU-ish. Oh, and I think I need to change the rating. to T.

 **Disclaimer: Haikyu!** is not mine.

 **#4:** They could clearly see what he was getting at, except her. But knowing what will happen didn't make it less surprising.

* * *

If one were to ask the team how they would describe their Captain, they would give mixed answers. But the popular ones would be cunning, blasé, annoyingly sharp, childish, confident and sometimes dependable.

It wasn't like they didn't respect him as a leader, it was just that at one moment he would act all cool and suddenly spoil the mood by doing or saying completely childish.

Kindaichi wiped off the sheen of sweat on his forehead, turning to Yahaba, who needed some help getting his spikes in. He frowned as he saw the second-year watch the other side of the court, then mumble something under his breath.

"Yahaba-san, what's wrong?"

The brown-haired player jumped a bit as Kindaichi called out to him. "Nah, it's just that they're pissing me off."

The spiker blinked, not really getting what his senior was saying, when Yahaba motioned to where he had been looking at. Their practice match with the school was one suggested by their coaches, and the Seijoh boys knew next to nothing about the school. Apparently they had beaten Date Tech in the prelims and made it until semifinals. They were in separate blocks, so meeting them then was the first time.

"It's Karasuno."

Kindaichi turned to the mentioned team, and when he saw the two managers, he kinda knew what made the sophomore so unsatisfied. "Damn, they've got two girls as their managers."

Yahaba clicked his tongue. "The shorter girl, she's probably a first year. Damn, and she's cute too."

They were watching the Karasuno team warm up, and suddenly an idea struck him. "Hey, Kindaichi, help me out a bit."

* * *

Oikawa held in his laughter as he saw how Yahaba's plan to impress the girl failed. The second year was too obvious, in his point of view. If he thought he could get through Karasuno's guards (namely the Libero-kun and Baldy-kun) then he would have to come up with something cunning. Something that he himself was about to do.

He couldn't help the grin on his face.

Iwaizumi smacked the back of his head, jarring his attention from the cute light-haired girl. He rubbed the sore spot, pouting.

"Iwa-chan, cut me some slack."

The ace player gave his captain an annoyed look, holding a volleyball menacingly in one hand. Depending on what Oikawa had to ssay, the ball might end up in his face.

"You're up to something aren't 'cha."

He tilted his head to one side, feigning ignorance. "Hmmm? Whatever do you mean?"

He motioned for Kunimi to toss a ball to him, and hit it towards the ace, momentarily changing the topic. Iwaizumi spiked it as usual, impressing the other team members, and the Karasuno's as well. Oikawa gave a thumbs up.

"Nice one, Iwa-chan."

"If you're trying to change the subject, I'll punch you."

That didn't seem to faze the setter, and he smirked instead, "Do you really wanna know what I'm planning?"

Iwaizumi raised a brow. There was something weird about how his friend sounded. He was sure nothing good will come out of whatever Oikawa was planning, but damn he was curious.

One thing he could say though. The plan must be something stupid.

"I don't know if I want to, but I'm kinda interested now."

"Then punch me, Iwa-chan."

He said it as a matter-of-factly that Iwaizumi had no idea how to react for the first few seconds. What Oikawa said after that pissed him though. "Iwa-chan, you're gonna hurt yourself from thinking too much."

"Oi, you serious? Are you a masochist or what?"

The setter shrugged, and glanced at the girl. Noting that she was jogging towards them to reach some of the Karasuno boys from their side, Oikawa nodded.

"Alright, if you're not gonna punch me then I'll turn to plan B." He winked , "Watch this."

Iwaizumi was still trying to understand what Oikawa meant, when suddenly the Captain started to cover his eyes with his left hand.

"Ah, ouch! Somebody help meee."

If it wasn't for how realistic he looked, anyone could tell that he was just acting from the way he dragged out his speech. But his acting did the job, and caught her eye. She stopped in the middle of the gym and turned to the duo. Her eyes widened and she quickly jogged to him instead, a fresh wet towel in her small hands.

"U-Um, are you okay Oikawa-san?"

Oikawa frowned, and rubbed at an eye, one that was obviously fine. She didn't know though, and carefully touched the hand covering it, as if one wrong move could render him blind or something. Everyone in the gym stopped in their practices when the Seijoh captain said something about how his eye was hurting. For a moment, the pain looked real, even the Seijoh members were starting to panic.

That was until they spotted the small sneaky grin on Oikawa's lips.

They sighed, and resumed their practice as if nothing happened. _Not again, geez._

From the corner of his (good) eye, Oikawa could see that he was attracting a little too much attention when Karasuno's captain approached them, trying to help. Geez, the guy was too nice for his own good.

Better act now or he'll miss his chance.

"Ow, ow. It hurts."

"C-Can I take a look?"

Her small hand pulled his hand away from his eye, and he got a good look at the girl. He shortly froze, and noticed that she was actually very cute. Fleetingly he understood why Yahaba was so intent on impressing her. He originally wanted to kiss her cheek, just to stir her up, but his plans changed almost immediately upon seeing her up-close.

"I think something went into my eye."

Soft fingers brushed his cheekbone, trying to find if something went into his eye, as he claimed. When her face came nearer to his, realization washed over Iwaizumi.

Oikawa was going to get slapped for this. Or suspended. Or worse, get hit with a ball. And he wasn't going to save him.

Not that he ever had, really.

Daichi Sawamura was a few meters from them when she opened her mouth to say something. Just when she barely said anything though, Oikawa lowered his head and pressed his lips on hers. He intended for a peck to the lips, but he couldn't find it in himself to pull back just yet. Her lips were soft.

Karasuno's captain stopped immediately, mouth hung open. The other team members were equally surprised. Somewhere in the distance, a ball bounced off the stupefied Libero-kun's head and hit Baldy-kun straight in the face. The loud orange-head stopped jumping in mid air and got himself tangled in the net, and his partner stopped breathing altogether.

Even the Seijoh members stopped moving, with the exception of Yahaba. Poor guy was frozen stiff from the shock.

Iwaizumi was speechless as well.

He knew Oikawa was sometimes unpredictable. That trait of him always led up to trouble. But this, this takes the cake.

And Oikawa was sure taking his sweet time. He cleared his throat when the setter finally pulled back, a satisfied smile on his face.

"Just kidding, manager-san."

His smile widened into a teasing grin as the girl noticed what had transpired between them, eyes widening. It took less than a second for her face to burn up.

"Y-You j-just k-k-kissed-"

She didn't get to finish when a ball, out of nowhere, hit Oikawa squarely in the face.

* * *

Oikawa yawned as he sat on the bench outside the convenience store, the light from store behind him casting a shadow on the empty road. He flinched as he felt the sting underneath the patch stuck on his right cheek, and was reminded of the after-school practice match with Karasuno. His mouth turned down when he remembered the ruined moment just after he kissed Hitoka-chan (he managed to learn her name from the conversations she had with the members) and the ball that Mizoguchi-kun all but slammed into his face.

He didn't know what was so wrong about kissing a perfectly pretty girl.

The plastic bag he was carrying rustled as he changed hands. He was reminded of the tampons in the plastic bag, and wondered if it was normal for big sisters to ask their brothers to buy women products.

"E-Eh? Oikawa-san…"

His ears perked up as he heard that familiar voice, and slowly he turned around. She had just stepped out of the convenience store, and as the automatic doors closed behind her, the air conditioner from the inside escaped and gently blew against her back. A plastic bag hung on her small hand, and she used the other to tuck a strand of her hair behind her ear. She smiled at him, and she must have remembered the incident earlier when suddenly her cheeks blushed. The light from the store bounced off the fabric of her pink parka, creating a soft glow around her.

He couldn't help but be awed at how his heart thumped when she saw her. She was only in a pair of pink sweatpants and a matching parka over a plain yellow t-shirt, but she was oddly pleasing to his eyes. He had no choice but to smile back, stinging cheek be damned.

"Hello there, Hitoka-chan."

He motioned for her to sit next to him, and after she hesitated for a moment or two, she finally sat next to him. The few inches of gap between them was the only wall between them at that time, and Oikawa found out that she really was a small person. She was playing with her fingers, thinking of what to say when he spoke up first.

"You were surprised weren't you. About what happened earlier."

Hitoka looked up from her fingers, and nodded. "I-I was… I mean you s-suddenly… did something like that."

Oikawa found that her blushing cheeks were something that he liked, and wouldn't mind being the cause of. "Hm… I guess I'm sorry for surprising you."

She laughed, "Apology accepted."

Her laughter gradually stopped when she noticed the white patch on his cheeks, and brushed her fingers over it. "Does it hurt?"

He grinned, "Uh-huh. It does. Will you kiss the pain away?"

She was taken aback at the sudden request, and just like before, her cheeks reddened. "Wh-What? Eh?"

Oikawa continued, mischievous brown eyes challenging her, "I _am_ sorry for surprising you, but I wasn't sorry for kissing you that is. I did it on purpose."

Hitoka covered her cheeks with her hands, willing them to cool down. "Wh-Why w-w-would you want to ki-kiss me?"

It was as of it was the most sensible thing to say when he smiled. "Because I like you."

His smile widened when her eyes dropped involuntarily to stare at his mouth.

"Hitoka-chan."

She blinked, and looked up only to find his face approaching hers. He was about to kiss her when she pressed her palm against his mouth. "B-But! I-I don't know how to kiss!"

The girl could feel her stomach doing back-flips when she felt his smile on her skin. His larger hand easily removed her hands away, and the next thing she knew, his lips were pressed to hers.

He intended to pull back after a peck, just to get her flustered, but when he felt her eyelashes tickle his skin, he tilted his head instead so he could kiss her better. The stinging on his cheek faded as he felt her relax, and gently he cupped her cheek in his hand. The plastic bag he had been holding was dropped somewhere, -he couldn't bring himself to care, really- and he wrapped an arm around her small waist to bring her closer.

She was small, and soft.

It was when she curled her fingers into his chest did he finally decide to pull away. If he didn't, he wouldn't know if he could have stopped. Probably not, he thought as he saw the pretty blush on her cheeks. He didn't want to scare her, because he was starting to scare himself. Whatever that was supposed to start as a joke, backfired at him. Who knew the moment he kissed her in that gym, it felt as if everything about her felt right.

"Hey, go out with me."

She bit her lip, and before he could say it again, she meekly nodded. "I-If you're okay with me."

He let out a breath he didn't realize he was holding before. "Believe me, Hitoka-chan. You're more than okay."

This was it, he would go about things as properly as he could after this. Get her to smile more, to laugh more. And he was fine with getting hit by Mizoguchi's spikes if he could kiss her as much as he wanted.

But his cheek still stung.


	5. Chapter 5

**Yabai Koi Series**

 **A/N: Hey there, I'm back with a new chapter. Maybe two, I dunno. Thank you very much for all the reviews, I really appreciate it. It's a boost to my constantly-depleting confidence, since there are some pretty damn good writers out there. The next chapter is halfway done so let's keep our fingers crossed that I finish it and upload it before the week ends. Haha. Oh, there'll be some suggestive scenes here and there for this entry, but most of it is clean. So here you go. ^^**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Haikyuu! and its characters.**

 **Summary:** Because according to Kageyama-kun, everything about Oikawa was 'yabai'.

 **#5:** She had no idea how he could make something as mundane like drinking water seem so erotic.

[Note] This chapter is set after Karasuno beat Shiratorizawa in the Spring Tournament.

* * *

It was like clockwork, how she'd spot him and just end up staring at the way the smile lines appear on his cheeks, the mirth reflected in his eyes as he played with the kids, the proud grin on his face whenever one of his children managed to block an attack, or successfully get a spike in or when they would dive fluidly to receive a ball. He would turn around to high five them, and then their eyes would meet. He would always, _always_ have his lips turned up into that smirk of his, as if he knew she was ogling at the way his shirt stuck to his body, the beads of perspiration glistening on the back of his neck and the bow of his upper lip.

Aah, Hitoka knew she was screwed.

Out of all people, why did it have to be him that her eyes would follow?

* * *

Class was as normal as always, with her classmates all clamoring to be the first to get their hands on the limited edition Karasuno Bun during lunch break (the school had pretty bizarre ideas when it came to promoting their school to the neighborhood, even more so with the Volleyball Club boys winning games after games after years of stalemate). A few of her classmates had accidentally set off the fire alarms, and got themselves a week of window cleaning. People would think that the students from the advanced class were different from the others and didn't fool around, but in fact they were just as normal. There was the usual sight of the oddball duo racing each other towards her class for their tutoring session with her, and groaning in unison as she passed back the quizzes she had prepared for them on a weekly basis.

After class, Hitoka changed clothes and headed to the gym for club activities, stopping by Hinata's classroom to fetch him (he was on class duty that day) and they both headed to the gym, Kageyama joining them midway. The boys went to change in the locker room, and having changed earlier, she went ahead to the large building. She arrived slightly early, and made quick work of preparing the court.

The light-haired girl was pulling out the net, when a bird flew into the hollow gym and swooped low just enough to whizz closely past her head, wrenching a startled "Hiee!" from her. Her small foot got caught in a hole in the net, and she fell down onto the shiny floor in a heap of tangled mess. Hitoka was trying to untangle herself without trying to strangle herself to death when the third years came inside, Asahi crying out a panicked "Yacchan!" and after a few of tugs here and there (and a very, _very_ antsy Asahi) Daichi and Sugawara managed to free her from the clutches of the net. The Captain and the (now calmed down) Asahi took over putting it up, and Sugawara helped her up with a tug of his hand.

Going down into one of her signature Dogeza, Hitoka apologized for being clumsy and a sorry excuse of a manager (for the umpteenth time). Sugawara's carefree laughter filled the gym as he patted her head, giving her already mussed hair an affectionate rustle and grinning when her face warmed up exponentially.

"'Sokay, be careful next time, yeah?"

She nodded, giving him a salute and her clumsy "Yesh! Thank you!"

Hinata came bouncing in, and Hitoka quickly helped set the chairs for a visiting school later that day. She just came back from filling in the water bottles when Nishinoya and Tanaka both jumped into the gym and eagerly greeted Kyoko. As usual, she answered their boisterous greeting with a cool and collected nod, and they seemed happy just getting a reaction from her, rolling around on the gym floor before Ennoshita poked at their prone bodies, all but turned to putty, and dryly told them to get warming up instead of goofing off.

Nishinoya sprung back up just as energetically as they were seconds ago, and waved at Hitoka as well. "Yacchan! Great job ya did there at the club!"

The girl stood ramrod straight at the sudden shout out, and she gave a strained smile when the second-years and the freshmen turned to look at her, eyebrows raised. Self-consciously, she laughed and tried to brush it off with a wave of her hand. She didn't want them to know yet, but since she _did_ bump into the loud shorty on her way out of the gym, then her initial gambit to break the news to the boys come fall was probably asking a bit too much.

"Thanks… but um… it's nothing big though senpai."

Hinata, all energy and smiles grabbed at the net to blink wide eyes at the Libero. "What? What? What is it?"

Hitoka adored the boys to bits, but sometimes she just found it a little irritating that they were so oblivious to her discomfort. Well, Yamaguchi-kun noticed her fidgeting figure and tried to ease the excitement, but when Nishinoya all but told them that their small manager had signed up to be a volunteer at the Little Tyke's, the manager gave up. She mouthed an 'it's okay' to the apologetic-looking Pinch Server, and if she was being honest, the sight of Hinata's outburst of "How COOL!" and starry eyes as he turned to her as if she was a goddess had done it for her.

How could she even win against that?

A resigned smile painted her small face, and she scratched the back of her head, laughing a little. "Well, yeah. Sort of. I wanted to learn more about Volleyall so I signed up for the club. It's been a few weeks since I started."

Tanaka scratched his head, and swiftly dodged one of Asahi's stray serves. "Isn't it a club for elementary kids and junior high brats?"

Asahi messed up his serve again, and the ball bounced against a wall near Daichi before it rolled over to her. She picked it up, tossed it to Sugawara and twiddled with her thumbs.

"Well, I couldn't really sign-up for other clubs since the schedules weren't tallied with mine. I'm not that athletic, I'd probably hit my teammates in the face more than actually getting a proper receive."

From the back of the gym Kageyama spoke up, "Yeah, she probably would."

Hitoka shrugged a shoulder and continued, "And I'd really like to learn more about… you know… about being a better manager." Kiyoko looked up from a clipboard, raising a brow as she heard Hitoka. The younger girl failed her arms about. "B-But, it doesn't mean that you're not a good enough teacher, senpai! You've been a really good instructor! The best! Not that I've been a manager before but well, um… yeah."

The third-year smiled a little at that.

Clearing her throat, Hitoka smiled at Hinata who looked as confused as the others. "I guess you could say I want to learn more about Volleyball and at the same time learn to observe the players."

Because to her, looking after the boys were similar to looking after the kids at Lil' Tyke. But she wouldn't tell them that, of course. 

"Oh, it's like that, you know? Killing two birds with one stone!" Hinata quipped from his place.

She nodded. "Exactly."

Ukai arrived then, and immediately the boys started on warm up, Kageyama and Hinata racing each other as they ran laps around the gym.

* * *

She felt like throwing up. After the small commotion about her being a volunteer at the Lil' Tykes, Hitoka almost forgot about her jumpy nerves when Kiyoko had told her about the visiting school. Now that they were just minutes before the practice match, the nerves came back.

"So hey, Yacchan. How're the kids?" Tanaka draped an arm across her shoulders companionably, leaning in. "Still as rambunctious as always?"

She staggered at the sudden weight, and ignored the fact that the Wing Spiker was all sweaty from the short three-on-three match he played. After being with them for a while she became accustomed to the breach of personal space. They had just finished with warm ups and practice runs, and were waiting for the visitors to arrive for the practice match. Apparently their bus driver ran into some problems, but they did say that they were going.

Ennoshita sighed and rolled his eyes. "Of course they are, Tanaka. The kids in this neighborhood can barely settle down long enough for a lesson."

Hitoka nodded. "A few of them twisted some ankles. They bump into each other a lot." A giggle, "a group of boys were made to sit out when one of the coaches caught them fighting over who should serve first in a practice match."

She left out the three middle-school girls who had screamed indignantly when a coach had banned them from coming again after they harassed one of the coach assistant, a handsome guy who were popular with most of the younger kids.

Tanaka threw his head back and laughed. "Well, I know one way Yacchan could get them to behave." He leered outrageously, wagging his eyebrows. Ennoshita sighed as his friend switched from their manager to drape an arm across his shoulders instead. He disinterestedly watched, a ball in a hand as the bald player wagged his eyebrows again. "Hell, all you need to do to get brats to behave is flip your hair and undo your buttons – oof!" The second-year spiker gasped for breath, wincing a bit at the sharp jab to his ribs.

"Don't even joke about that, Tanaka. They're kids! That's disgusting." Ennoshita frowned at the man he'd just elbowed in the ribs, a slight blush gracing his cheeks.

A sputtering and blushing Yachi thanked him, he nodded to her and turned to his friend again, his calm features betrayed by the glare in his dark eyes. "Go harass someone else. Or, here's a thought, actually go practice your serves instead of hanging around Yachi all the time and tease her. As well as trying to get Shimizu-san to spank you." He shrugged Tanaka's hand off his shoulder, and tossed the ball in his hand into a ball cart to the side of the gym.

"In fact, I think Daichi-san's going to catch onto you goofing off too much. If you keep that up I bet he's gonna come up with something to get _you_ to behave …"

"No, no. That's not necessary, ," Tanaka stood straight, reclaiming his breath and stepping back, hands in front of him like a shield. "That's okay, I'll behave." He flashed a quick grin, moving to hide behind Sugawara.

The Vice-Captain just rolled his eyes, making no move to shield his underclassman. Ennoshita had gone to Asahi to help the taller senior collect the used balls from the other side of the gym.

"You've gotta learn when to keep your mouth shut, Tanaka. Well, Nishinoya too, but he's not here now." He leaned back against the wall, throwing Tanaka a reprimanding look.

"Heh, yeah. I know." Tanaka tucked his hands in his pockets, shrugging sheepishly. "It's just so fun to tease her; she blushes very prettily." He grinned unrepentantly as the girl's face started burning up again.

Hitoka vainly pretended she couldn't hear them. She glanced to the clock; the Seijou guys should be there soon. Takeda-sensei got a call from the school's coach, and he nodded at something the coach said. The young teacher walked to her, his eyes practically _sparkling_ as he told the girl that the visitors would be at the gym any minute now. Kiyoko was saying something to Daichi, and after checking that the floors were clean and there were no balls strewn around, Hitoka checked the clock again. Less than a minute.

Takeda-sensei and Kiyoko were by the school gates to escort their rival school. The boys have lined up in the middle of the court, looking sharp in their black and orange uniforms. Someone burped, and another farted, and the others snickered, Hinata's poorly-muffled chuckles reaching her ears and she smiled as well. Her nerves were eased a little by the small fiasco. Berating herself for her nervousness, she settled with gripping the clipboard closer to her chest.

She wasn't sure why she was so nervous today.

Which was a lie. She knew exactly why she was nervous today. As Kiyoko had informed when she was helping her with the chairs, the Seijou team had called for a practice match with the Karasuno team, even after losing to the boys at the semifinals. The third years were still in the club, and had figured that it was a way for the new regulars they had picked to get accustomed to matches, especially for opponents as skilled and loud as the Karasuno bunch. The retiring seniors would be playing with the new regulars to guide them, as she had heard Ukai saying before. Which meant that he would be there too. More specifically, the Seijou's Captain and setter.

Tōru Oikawa

It wasn't like Hitoka had never met the guy. He was Seijou's Captain, for God's sake! He'd played against them several times, and the last time they did in an official match, the Karasuno team won. Everyone knew about his skills as both a setter and a Captain, and about how he made Best Middle School Setter at age fourteen. It was also common knowledge that he was a ladies magnet. One of the senior coaches at Lil' Tyke had joked about how much the brown-haired teenager broke hearts left and right. The staff even made a bet on how many he had dated. All underground, of course.

However, no one knew how much she was interested in him.

She had known him to be the guy with the tears-your-arms-off serve and a pretty arrogant person before she joined the Lil' Tykes. The first few days, he had instantly recognized her as Karasuno's manager. Who wouldn't, after seeing Hinata and Kageyama flanking her during official games? The three first years were close friends, everyone could see that. At first, she had been too flustered to return his greeting, and was too busy thinking about how she would mess up on her first day on the job, Hitoka barely talked to him that day. Hinata had said that Oikawa was a scary person, and Kageyama had even warned her to 'run the hell away' if she ever bumped into him. So she couldn't help it that during her first few weeks working with the Lil' Tykes, she pretty much avoided him.

Until the day she saw him playing basketball with his friends at a park on her way back from school.

Hitoka was aware of her fixation on watching athletes duke it out on the courts. Watching Hinata and Kageyama that time when they were trying to convince her to be their second manager did that to her. She found it very artistic in the way the boys would run around the court, diving in for receives and jumping up for beautiful spikes. The sight of the boys cheering whenever they scored a point was her favorite. Camaraderie was a beautiful thing, she realized.

And as she stood fixed on the spot to the far side of the court, her mouth agape and heart pounding in her ears, Hitoka felt a dull pang in her chest as she watched how Oikawa swiftly dodged his friend who had swiped in to take the orange ball from him, and had almost effortlessly jumped to dunk the ball. He had rolled up the long sleeves of his school uniform, neck tie absent and his first two buttons popped open.

She swallowed as he had run a hand through his brown hair, made messy by the sport he'd just played, and could swear her heart stopped beating for a millisecond when she caught the droplets of sweat matting the hair at the back of his neck. "Matsun, you owe me a meat bun!"

The manner in which he was grinning and showing a 'V' sign while standing in all his sweaty glory, the orange sun filtering through the strands of his unruly brown hair was boyish and yet had an erotic quality to it. 

His voice broke the spell, and she realized she was staring at a boy, and not because she was admiring the languid moves and footwork, but for a reason entirely different.

Her face had burned scarlet, not that she could see, but she was positively burning judging by the stares she got from the people around her as she all but ran home. Later that night, her mother had watched her walk about doing housework with robotic movements, an elegant brow raised.

"Hitoka, you look feverish. Are you okay?"

She had dropped her basket of laundry then. " Hogyaaa!"

* * *

Hitoka couldn't do this anymore.

Watching him like this was too much.

It was torture.

The first practice match had ended with a win for Karasuno, and now they were in the middle of the second and last practice match. As luck would have it, Oikawa was playing the match, and _of course_ Ukai had to throw in all four first years together to play against the more experienced Oikawa. Since it was a practice, he figured they could use the chance to try and work together, all four of them, to play as a team. It was rare that all four were in the same court at the same time, and apparently it was looking a little bit shaky for them. The first year trio on the Seijou's team were also in the same predicament, since they were far too intimidated by Hinata and Kageyama's freak quick. Add in Tsukishima's height and Tanaka's loud battle yells, it was safe to assume that the game would stretch a little bit.

"Nice serve!"

Her mouth called out of habit, and she swallowed as Oikawa's eyes met hers for a split second, a ghost of a smile gracing his face before he moved across the court, easily receiving one of Tanaka's serves. She felt her face warming up at being caught staring, and quickly dropped her face to stare at her shoes.

' _Gosh, stop staring at him, me!'_

She lifted her head, determined to watch the play instead of how his eyes sparkled when he played. His team scored a point, and it was his turn to serve. Hitoka watched in bated breaths as he spun then ball once, twice, before he threw it up and brought the ball down into that famous tears-your-arms serve that she liked to call. They got in another point, and Kageyama's sour look as he glared at his former senpai got himself a grin from the guy.

"Rejoice, oh sweet Tobio-chan! I was going easy on you guys!"

She couldn't stop her giggles when she heard Kageyama grumbling something under his breath. Daichi appeared next to her as the game continued, and Hitoka looked up at him as he took a drink from his water bottle.

"Good job, senpai."

"Thanks. You too, Yachi."

She nodded, and before she could ask him if he needed a towel, he spoke again. "I hate to say this but the first years look kind of funny right now. I kinda get what Ukai-san wants to do, but still…"

In a rush to get the ball, Hinata had bumped his head into Tsukishima's back. Somehow he contributed a point for that, but Ukai had called for a time-out. "Geez, try to give in a little, that Hinata."

She laughed, and as she turned to look at the court, her eyes darted to Oikawa's side.

He was tipping his head back to drink his water, a hand resting at his waist. It might be her eyes tricking her, but standing a few feet away from him, brown orbs involuntarily ran over the sheen of sweat on his forehead, strands of hair sticking there. A droplet of water escaped his lips, and it seemed like every noise around her was muted as her eyes followed the droplet's movement as it slid over his bottom lip to trail slowly down towards his chin. It joined the droplets of sweat gathered at the tip of his chin and together the accumulated liquid teetered off the edge of his upturned chin, to finally drop onto his throat. She was too far gone to admonish herself and force her eyes away when the bump of his Adam's Apple bobbed as he swallowed the water he had fed himself a moment ago, and she herself swallowed as the droplet trailed over that moving bump and downwards to the hollow of his throat, disappearing altogether from her view.

She had no idea how he could make something as mundane like drinking water seem so erotic. Hitoka licked her lips, feeling her mouth dry up at the sight of such an insignificant water droplet.

She might have secretly been proud that her eyesight was impressive, but right then, she cursed whatever luck she had to have such a godsend ability. Because of her eyes, she was subjected to the realization that she most probably have a new fetish developing inside of her.

The whistle was blown to resume the match, and she nearly jumped out of her skin when he turned around to place the bottle back down and caught her looking at him again.

Why did it seemed as if he knew when she would have her eyes on him?

He had raised a brow, then a knowing smirk stretched over his lips, before he walked back into the game.

Hitoka sighed, and dropped her head to stare angrily at her shoes. How was she supposed to look at him now? Especially since the both of them go to the Lil' Tykes.

She felt a squeeze on her shoulder, and she bit back a surprised shriek as her clipboard dropped, hitting her toes in the process. She looked up at Kiyoko's confused face, a wobbly smile on her lips. She wasn't caught staring at the opponent was she? Did Kiyoko realize she was having lewd thoughts of Oikawa? Could it be that _everyone_ could tell she was ogling at the sliver of skin exposed whenever his shirt would ride up?

"Hitoka-chan, you okay? Do you feel unwell?"

Hitoka nodded, shaky hands reaching for the clipboard that dropped earlier. She came back up, her cheeks a little pink from embarrassment. "Y-Yes. N-No, I'm just a little surprised. Ha… haha."

' _Yes? No? What were you trying to say Hitoka Yachi?! Oh geez.'_

A dark brow rose, before the older manager shrugged. "That's fine then. Can you fill up the bottles, and help me pass the feedback forms when you get back from the taps."

She saluted clumsily, eyes bright. Yes! A distraction! "Yesh! Gotcha!"

* * *

Seijou won the second match, because of Tanaka's overkill spike that made for a perfect homerun had it been a baseball match and a flick of Oikawa's wrist when he executed a dump shot. The first years had gaped, and Hinata's jaw had hit the ground at the unexpected sneaky attack, before he fell onto the floor face-down, moaning.

"Dammiiiiiit!"

Kageyama called him a dumbass for getting too worked up over a feint, and of course, Tsukishima had to slide in a comment that made the carrot-head rolling round on the floor writhing in embarrassment. Hitoka thought that they played a good one, despite losing.

Taking out a few towels, she jogged towards Hinata and gave him a towel, her lips pulled up into a smile.

"That was a good game, Hinata."

The carrot head pouted, but took the towel anyway, springing back up to glare daggers at a smirking Oikawa. Sighing, the manager turned to hand a towel to a grumbling Kageyama. She patted his arm, in an attempt to calm him down.

"It's okay, you guys played a good match. It was nice to watch."

The frown on the setter's forehead eased a bit, before mumbling out a "Really? You mean it?"

Hitoka grinned and gave him a thumbs up. "Yep! Definitely!" Her optimism managed to smooth out the frown on his face, and wrench out the small lifts on the corners of his lips. "Okay."

Sugawara gave a hearty slap onto his back, flashing a wide grin. "Not so bad, now is it? Go and cool yourself down over there with the others."

Kageyama nodded, and jogged to the side of the gym, joining Tanaka and the others who had just played. Sugawara gave a thumbs up to Hitoka, and watched as she grinned back, and turned around to tug at Hinata's sleeve, her cheery voice trying to lift up the shorty's spirits, and it worked. It might have been because of her words, or the fingers she kept crossed at her back, but Hinata relented from drilling holes into the back of a retreating Oikawa.

"C'mon, you guys did amazing! Look there, at the score board, you managed to score almost half of the points using your quick attacks, right? That's something to be proud of, Hinata."

Her smiles were so contagious it managed to turn a sulking Hinata into a grinning idiot. Sugawara chuckled as he spotted the reddening ears on the shorty. Hitoka was pushing at Hinata's back to coerce the boy into doing cooling down exercises and help clean up the gym when the light-haired setter saw Oikawa's face.

The brown haired guy was toweling himself down, seemingly listening to something Iwaizumi was saying. When Hitoka and Hinata walked pass them, there was a shift in Oikawa's eyes, and that was when Sugawara realized that the third-year was looking at the girl. He blinked, and wiped the perspiration over his eyelids, and watched again. Hitoka was helping Kiyoko hand out the feedback forms to the visiting team, and when she passed one to Oikawa, he didn't miss the way her cheeks blushed a faint pink and the endearment in Oikawa's brown orbs.

He breathed out an "Oh" as he observed Kageyama's former senpai.

Hitoka was walking away from the Seijou duo when Takeda-sensei called out to her, and Sugawara couldn't help but feel his cheeks warm up when he caught Oikawa watching over her retreating back. Something about the way his brown eyes softened as he watched the petite girl smiling at something Tanaka was joking about seemed very personal and intimate, and it sent shivers down the setter's spine.

A ball rolled over to her and hit the side of her shoe. Hitoka bent down to reach for the ball, and Sugawara bit his lip when he caught the small smile on Oikawa's lips when his brown eyes flicked downwards to admire her backside.

Sugawara prided himself in the fact that he could read people well, and in that instant, he could easily say that a certain Captain was interested in Karasuno's petite manager. In more ways than one.

He winced as he watched Iwaizumi noticing Oikawa rudely staring at her butt, proceeding to smack his Captain's head. 

* * *

**A/N: I'm done. But somehow it feels… incomplete? Well this should be a drabble, so maybe it's good enough yeah? Oh, and sorry for pervy-Yachi here. I mean, she should feel at least something when watching the guys play, right? That's normal. And someone needs to do it, right? Hihi. I'm halfway through the next chapter, and I really hope that I finish it by tomorrow. Because I'm gonna be super busy next week. *cries***

 **Oh, please drop a review if u can. reviews help me a lot. *wink *wink**


	6. Chapter 6

**Yabai Koi Series**

 **A/N: Hi! I've never really had experience whipping up a family piece, so I hope this short entry will satisfy your OikaYachi feels to some extent. ^^**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Haikyuu! and its characters.**

 **Summary:** Because according to Kageyama-kun, everything about Oikawa was 'yabai'.

 **#6:** If Iwaizumi had not strangled him half to death from one of his famous chokehold, he wondered if he would have had the guts to ask Hitoka out for that date. Probably not.

* * *

"Tōru-kun?" Hitoka called, nudging the door open with an elbow and shifting the plastic bag and her other bags in her hands. "Tōru-kun, are you home?" The door swung open silently, and she stepped inside and toed off her heels. Kicking the door shut and making sure the door was tightly closed by leaning her back against it, she slipped her feet into home slippers and walked into the kitchen to put the bags on the counter.

The bag listed sideways, spilling onto the counter with a quiet rustle. Fruits and canned goods, onions and tomatoes rolled across the counter, coming to a stop just before the edge. Resisting the urge to scream, Hitoka huffed in frustration, running a hand through her already disheveled hair. Raking her fingers through her shoulder length hair, she shrugged off the black suit she wore to work and laid it on the back of a chair. She heard shuffling coming from the hallway leading to the rooms, and a child's squeal.

A tired smile painted her lips as she heard muffled sounds of "Mommy's home. Daddy! Mommy's home!" from behind one of the doors.

"Tōru-kun, come here please! I need help with the groceries." She scooped up the food, gathering it back into the bag. In one move she swept it upright again, balancing it carefully.

Bending over to pick at a stray paper by her foot, she quickly pulled her hair back into some semblance of order, tying it with the scrunchy she kept in the pocket of her pencil skirt and straightening just in time to watch the bag hit the counter again, sending everything tumbling faster. This time however, some of them were saved the casualty of hitting the floor by a hand larger than her own, belonging to her husband who just came out of the bathroom, their four-year old girl latching onto his long leg, wetting the pajama pants he wore.

She heard one of the doors opening, and Takeru's voice called out to the small girl. "Oy, Tsumugi! You're not done yet!"

"Woah!" Her husband cried, catching as many vegetables as he could. His hands filled quickly and a few apples rolled off the counter, landing on the floor with a few dull thuds and the random splat. Hitoka winced, already envisioning the inevitable bruising and floor clean-up to come. From below them, their daughter laughed at the wet sound, brown orbs sparkling with mirth as she peered up at her mother.

"The vege go splat mommy!" Hitoka laughed as her child tried mimicking the sound by clapping her hands together, not bothering to correct her daughter that a tomato is a fruit.

Tōru's brown eyes scanned the counter, his face scrunching in confusion. "Hitoka sweetie… How come you got so many veggies? Where's the ice cream? And the pickles?" He dropped his armload unceremoniously onto the countertop with the rest, stooping to pick up the ones that fell.

He popped back up with two whole apples and a handful of mush that might have been a tomato in a previous life. The man chuckled and placed it all on the counter, rubbing the back of his head with his clean hand. "Well… at least the apples are safe."

"Yes, I suppose they are." Hitoka pulled her daughter up in her arms to plant a kiss onto her chubby cheeks, then placed her back onto the floor, tightening the loosened towel around her wet small body. "Go ask Takeru-kun to dry you up, okay?" The child took off running again into her room, side stepping her father as the man busily wiped off the splattered mess with a few tissue and a rag. She put the cans in the cupboard, turning and pulling the tub of ice cream from the bottom of the bag, miraculously unscathed. She giggled when Tōru's eyes sparkled. How he had been craving for ice cream the past few weeks out of nowhere was so random and so him.

"How was your day, Tōru-kun?"

A lone orange that somehow escaped their attention a few moments ago rolled and stopped as it hit Hitoka's foot, so she bent down to retrieve it, almost feeling Tōru's eyes on her backside. She knew him too well.

Sure enough, when she stood back up and turned around, her husband made no effort to hide the grin on his lips, a low whistle escaping his lips. "I never get tired looking at your sweet ass."

Hitoka snorted and hit his sleeved arm, the impact not quite delivered since her cheeks were pink. "You sound like an old man."

Tōru shrugged and had already reached for a spoon to scoop the ice cream into a small bowl, popping the tub back into the freezer. "Eh, the usual." He fed himself some, and proceeded to spoon some into Hitoka's mouth. She moaned in pleasure as the sweet cool treat melted in her mouth, noticing her husband biting his lower lip at the sound. She pretended she didn't see that.

He spooned some more into his mouth, and swallowed. "Tobio and your overgrown orange brat were still trying to outdo each other, completely forgetting that they are practically in the same team." Hitoka pouted when she heard him referring Hinata as such. "Don't call him that."

He finished the ice cream in two scoops, and gently tapped the back of his cool spoon against the pout. When his wife blinked rapidly at the gesture, he laughed and set the used bowl into the sink. "Well, the freak quick pair are doing well. I however, was tasked with the newcomers. They were late on the first meeting though. Makes me wonder if they really were aiming to make it to the Nationals team."

Hitoka watched silently as her husband fell silent at the mention of the Nationals team, the look in his eyes at the time was something she had witnessed countless times when he spoke of the team he was currently coaching. He sighed as his tall body slumped against the counter, his hands flat on the surface on either sides, a small smile playing on his lips. She reached a hand to cup his cheek, her other hand bunching one side of the blue long-sleeved shirt he was wearing.

"Was your knee acting up again?" She asked, her voice gentle as her hand that was bunching his shirt trailed down his thigh, stopping on his left knee. He felt the familiar tingling on the small scar left there, hidden underneath his pants.

He was supposed to be on the same team as the oddball duo. He was offered a spot to join the Men's National Team and offers poured in from universities all over the Tohoku and Kanto region the moment he graduated high school. He could have picked any one of them, and pursue his Volleyball career. It was his dream to pursue the sport, it was his life. Everyone was testament to this side of him.

But Fate, oh Fate, was nothing if not cruel.

He had been on his way back from the entrance exam at Tohoku University, when he had seen the pair of yellow hats on the street. If he could stop time, at that moment, he would have bitched about what kind of parents would let their kindergarten children roam around the streets without adult supervision. He would have punched them for not keeping an eye on them, and he would have scolded the kids for not checking the lights first before crossing but no. He could not do any of those, and he could have, really, he could have just let someone else save the kids. Preferably a passerby whose life didn't revolve around sports. However, while Tōru Oikawa knew he could be a pompous ass sometimes, he was not selfish.

So Fate had decided to pull a fast one on him, and destined that he sprinted towards the small children, their yellow caps still in the middle of the road as they froze, petrified at the red truck furiously honking away. He was fast enough to pull the kids to the sidewalk, and the next thing he knew he was avoiding an approaching car that had appeared from nowhere and then his left knee had _burned,_ it had burned so much he could still feel the tear whenever he thought about what had happened ten years ago.

He could still remember the smiles and laughter he had hid behind to fool everyone into thinking that he was fine. That even though he could no longer run as much as he wanted to, that his dreams to keep playing Volleyball was crushed along with his knee, Tōru Oikawa had accepted his fate. For a few months during his rehabilitation he had thought that his life was over, until he met a very persistent girl with star-shaped clips in her hair.

Friends and family had helped him recover little by little, but she was the one who instilled in him the desire to not stop there. If she hadn't suggested that he could go into coaching and train players that were as amazing as he was, he probably wouldn't be where he was now. He also had Iwaizumi to thank for kicking him in the butt whenever he started to feel gloomy again.

Noticing that he hadn't answer her yet, Tōru nodded as he wrapped an arm around her waist to pull her close to him, trapping her petite body in between his long legs. Her brown eyes were clear as she peered up into his own, and he knew he couldn't escape her question. "A little. I was playing a set with half of them to get the trainees into the game."

Instead of pinching his thigh like she usually would when he would do something similar, Hitoka smiled. "Did you enjoy it?"

He grinned back. "Hell yeah."

They could hear their daughter squealing with laughter, no doubt playing with Takeru. They both chuckled when they heard the teenager whine, "Again?! Sheesh!"

Sighing, Hitoka buried her face into his chest, the hectic day earlier at the office forgotten as she listened to his steady heartbeat. She felt him shift a little and then his left hand was pulling off her scrunchy, before running his fingers through her blonde strands. Their daughter had Tōru's hair and eyes, but the girl had Hitoka's height.

"I'm glad you had fun. It's good to let loose sometimes, right?"

Hitoka felt the rumble in his chest as he hummed distractedly, and she peered up at him. A beatific smile lit up her face, when she suddenly said "I love you." For a moment Tōru was speechless. It always seemed to hit him how sincere her expressions were whenever she said those words. She could have been rolling in mud and stank of sweat and say those words to him over and over again through the course of their relationship but it would never cease to amaze him. His eyes dropped to her lips, watching the remnants of her lip gloss glisten.

"I love you too."

The beaming smile she gave him did him in.

Stooping, he caught her lips in his, his hand in her hair holding her head in place as he slanted his lips over her. Hitoka moved both her hands to rest on his chest, bunching the fabric of his shirt as she drew him in for more. When he felt her nipping at his lower lip, he almost smirked. That part of his wife turned him on like nothing, and he tightened his arm around her, practically plastering her body into his. Their tongues were twining against each other in a sensuous slide, and he could have stayed there all night making out like teenagers. He would have, but a nagging in the back of his head told him to stop since Takeru was still there. He faintly registered the fact that Tsumugi was quiet.

Tōru pulled away scant inches, looking down into Hitoka's face. Her hair was slightly mussed, and that lovely blush had made a re-appearance. She looked good enough to eat.

"Ugh, get a room will ya?"

Takeru's voice jarred the attention he had on his small wife, and lazily he dragged his eyes to look at his nephew. The bald kid grew up to be quite the looker, if he had to say so himself. Hitoka once said that Takeru looked exactly like he would if he had been a bit shorter and chubbier. He cleared his throat, unsure if his voice was okay and spoke up from the counter.

"Is Tsumugi asleep?"

"Yeah, soundly. Thanks to me."

His wife untangled herself from him, and helped the teenager gather his textbooks that cluttered the coffee table, making idle chat with him. When his nephew told her about a girl who had confessed to him earlier that day, Hitoka laughed.

Takeru blushed a little.

Tōru was positive his nephew had a crush on his wife.

He didn't know when it started, but it was surely during the time he had spent helping the young parents take care of Tsugumi. He called out to his nephew from the kitchen and asked if the teenager would need a ride to the nearest station.

"Nah, I'll be jogging back home."

"Ooh, your tournament's in a few weeks huh? Kick some ass yeah?"

Hitoka watched silently as her husband bumped fist with his eldest nephew, smiling a bit when they both laughed at a joke Takeru cracked. There were a few playful jabs exchanged between them, before Takeru was out of the door. Tōru closed the door, and mumbled that he was hungry as he poked his head into the fridge. She rolled the sleeves of her lilac shirt, and started towards the kitchen.

"I'll whip up some yakisoba for you if you want."

Her husband shook his head. Planting his hands on her shoulders, he spun her around and pushed her towards their bedroom. "No, I can handle this. You go take a hot shower and change into something comfortable. I won't be able to hold back if I have to spend another hour watching you in that skirt."

She laughed, and disappeared into a door. When he could hear the showers, he finally reached for a knife and started cutting some spring onions for the yakisoba. While he was not as adept in housework as his wife was, but he had helped out a lot to know how to cook some dishes. Like yakisoba and miso soup, though his skills were limited to those. Oh, and a sunny side egg. He could whip up a mean sunny side whenever breakfast was on him.

He smiled resignedly as he watched the onions and pieces of chicken sizzle on the pan. Never in a million years would he have imagined living a life with her. Although there were times he did hate it when his knee would act up, he was thankful that he had a family to come back to. The days when he had felt too hard to move on seemed so far behind now.

If he had not caught Hitoka that one night when she was trying to help Hinata and Kageyama sneak into the hospital to visit him when they couldn't make time in the day, Tōru wondered if he would have pursued professional coaching.

If Iwaizumi had not strangled him half to death from one of his famous chokehold, he wondered if he would have had the guts to ask Hitoka out for that date.

Probably not.

* * *

 **A/N: There you go, as promised. The next entry is about done, but I'll hold back for a few days. Please drop a review since they're brownie points for us writers. *wink *wink**


	7. Chapter 7

**Yabai Koi Series**

 **A/N:** Hi there! Sorry for the sudden disappearance. I was busy with final year projects and assignments and I just finished a paper. I was basically swamped with real life. But fear not, I have a few drafts ready, I just need to get my shit together and finish 'em. Nope. No pressure there. Oh, I must say that this chapter is rated-T since there will be use of crude language and kissing scenes. Oh, kissing scenes make fanfiction all the more colorful, don'cha think so?

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own Haikyuu! or any of the characters. I just own the plot.

 **#7:** "I will take responsibility! Please date me with the intent of marriage!" In which Yachi takes responsibility of seeing something that she shouldn't have. Of changing rooms, a misplaced underwear and a pair of fine buns that belonged to one Tōru Oikawa.

* * *

With the spring tournaments coming up, it wasn't surprising for Karasuno to be joining a summer training camp with five other rival high schools in the Miyagi prefecture. The teachers from Date Tech, Shiratorizawa and Aoba Jōsai managed to secure a large dorm near the ocean and a whole sports complex for the two week-long training camp. Takeda-sensei was in charge of food, and managed to rent out barbecue sets for the first and second Sunday of camp, and pretty much all the boys treated him like God when they got wind of the barbecue party.

Hinata and Kageyama were fired up, since it was the first time since being second years that they were finally given the chance to go all out during practice, and this time they actually passed their exams after much tutoring from Hitoka and Ennoshita themselves. Being the Captain of the rowdy Karasuno bunch, he would rather take it upon himself to personally oversee their studies than lead the team to countless rounds of penalties. Once during his second year was enough. At least with the addition of the two blockheads, the team would have a higher chance of reducing their penalty rounds. Currently they were on the ninth day of camp, and they managed to get by with only twelve penalties. Much to the relief of the newly-joined first years and the chagrin of the other schools, Terushima from Johzenji was particularly bummed. He was still bitter to the fact that the synchronized attack that they tried against the Karasuno was a fail. That, and the fact that the sexy Kiyoko Shimizu was not there anymore.

Hitoka huffed as she placed the basket full of damp laundry onto the cemented floor, and started collecting the dried laundry to be passed to Johzenji's manager.

"I'll handle these shirts, Runa-chan. Oh, and be careful!" The girl muffled out something that sounded like 'roger that!' and staggered through the backdoor with the pile of clothes in her arms, leaving Hitoka to start hanging out the laundry she had set before her.

Blowing a strand of hair that hung over her eyes, she stopped and admired the clean shirts that she and Runa had spent hours bent over in the girl's bathroom scrubbing. There was a trick to keeping white shirts look neat even after being drenched in grime. A slight shudder ran down her body as she felt droplets of sweat run down the slope of her back. Sneaking glances around her, Hitoka pulled on the bottom hem of her black shirt to wipe off the perspiration gathering over her forehead.

A year ago, she would have never thought of using her own shirt to wipe off her sweat, but after quite some time managing a bunch of guys while running around to make sure things were kept in check, it was inevitable that she sometimes picked up habits from the boys. She _did_ keep a small towel, but it was in the wash and she couldn't afford to wait for it to dry up. A small breeze tickled the exposed flesh of her flat tummy, and she felt that slight shudder again. There was the sound of dried leaves crunching, and suddenly there was a voice.

"Ah-"

She dropped her shirt, in time to see a figure bend down to pick up a fallen towel. She recognized that mop of brown hair all too well, and her smile immediately lit up her face as Oikawa stood back up, an awkward smile on his face. He felt a little guilty as he walked in on her, catching a glimpse of her abdomen and the dip of her navel.

Oblivious to his internal chaos, the girl bowed a little. "Thank you for coming to this camp, even though you're probably busy with college."

She came back up with that too-bright, too-huge smile of hers again, and he felt like a jerk for being unable to get the sight of the sweat rolling down her flat stomach and disappearing in the waistband of her sweat shorts off his mind. He was beginning to question his sanity. It must be the summer heat getting to him.

"It's fine. We're in the middle of summer break, and we're helping out the juniors so everything's cool." He hung the towel on his shoulder, and used the end to wipe his face, effectively blocking whatever little blush he had on his face.

When he was sure he was back to normal, he pulled the towel away from his face, watching silently as Hitoka continued to hang out the laundry. She was pulling out a white tee with black calligraphy on it (Oikawa was positive it belonged to the noisy Nishinoya) when he remembered why he was walking through the backyard of the dorms.

"Oh, um… Yachi-san?"

She nodded at him, a familiar-looking black and orange shirt in her hands. "Yes?"

"I was actually trying to find a... something…"

He wracked his brain for something to say. Well, he couldn't very well tell her that his boxers got mixed in with the Karasuno's because Hanamaki and Matsukawa pulled a sick prank on him, now could he? Those guys had the worst sense of humor when it came to himself, their calm faces did not reflect their wicked minds, at all.

' _Say, Yachi-san. I'm actually here for my boxers. You see, Mattsun thought that it was funny to mix in my boxers with Tobio's. Funny, huh?'_ As if he could say that with a straight face.

Hitoka bent down to reach for another piece of clothing when he noticed it tucked by the side of the basket.

' _Shit.'_ He was going to kill those two. After he could somehow retrieve his precious pair of boxers while trying to save face.

Hitoka blinked at him as she paused in her ministrations, oblivious to the turmoil as he fidgeted rather unlikely for someone with his personality. He was the kind of person who was confident in everything he did, it was quite unfitting to see him in such a different state.

"Um… Oikawa-san?"

An idea struck him, and he almost laughed victoriously at the thought. He cleared his throat, and with the confidence that was only 'Oikawa', he tilted his head to the side.

"Actually, it's nothing. I was just walking around the place. Do you need help with the laundry?"

She blinked again, and then she nodded enthusiastically. "Sure, if it's okay with you. I mean, it's not like I hate doing these things but there's only me and Runa-chan and another manager from Dateko so if it's okay with you…"

He waved a hand. "Doing this much is okay." He bent down and his hand lingered near the twisted article of clothing before noticing her eyes on him, and swiftly pulled out the first thing his hand landed on. It turned out to be a bright red pair of briefs with star prints all over.

He made a face and she laughed. "Geez, how can they let a girl handle their underwear?"

Hitoka shrugged as she straightened a pair of shorts on the line and stuck in pegs. "Doing this every time we have training camp made me become used to this sort of thing."

His arm brushed hers as he reached for a clothing peg, not noticing the slight blush on her face. He was busy trying to think of a topic that would make her too preoccupied so that he could snatch his boxers without her noticing. His heart jumped every time she turned around to pull out something from the basket of laundry, praying that he would be able to get to his precious baby before her.

"I heard Sawamura and the other retired members were coming as well. I hope they'd hurry up already. Komatsu's annoying the hell outta me."

She nodded. "Yeah, they couldn't make it yesterday, but they're coming today and will stay with us until the end of this camp. Um… I heard that you and Iwaizumi-san will also stay with us until the end of this camp, right?"

"Yep."

She pulled back a little, a blush staining her cheeks as she laughed a little. "I kind of feel bad, you know. I mean, I was the one to suggest inviting the retired members to come help out so um… I think it would help the guys out if they can train with their seniors you see."

Seeing that she was fiddling with her thumbs, Oikawa quickly swiped his boxers from the basket and stuffed it into his pocket before he looked up in time to see the pretty blush on her cheeks.

For a moment he forgot about the damp pair of boxers in his pocket and the bright red briefs taunting him, and instead he was reminded of the first time he met her a year ago at the semifinals of the Spring Tournament. They had never talked to each other, not until nine days ago when she greeted the retired players from Aoba Jōsai, Shiratorizawa and Date Tech at the gates of the rented dorm. She had called him Daiō-sama in front of the guys, and for that, even the stoic Ushijima sported a miniscule up-turn of his lips. Never mind the poorly-muffled snickers from the retired Dateko guys, that small teeny-tiny smirk on Ushijima's face was burned in his mind forever. But he couldn't bring himself to choke the sophomore manager because she was oblivious to how much he abhorred that nickname. If anything, it looked as if she thought he was perfectly dandy with that pet-name. She was so cute he couldn't help himself.

Which was absurd because she wasn't his type. His type had always been the long legged and powdered girls with too-short skirts.

His type was not the kind of girl who would be okay with walking in on half-naked guys with one hand covering her eyes. She wasn't _supposed_ to be the kind of girl who ran around the courts while picking up used volleyballs and rushing around from court to court with a first-aid kit by her side, sweat matting the hairs on her nape. His chest wasn't supposed to clench every time he caught sight of her hanging out laundry in the backyard, with her hair twisted into a small bun at the back of her head while smelling of day-old compress.

He cleared his throat as he straightened up. "We're actually thankful to be a part of this camp, so I should thank you instead. College has been quite a pain lately so being able to be here is a good change."

Hitoka smiled, and he swallowed.

' _Fuck.'_ He was whipped, wasn't he.

"You're welcome! Oh, and thank you!" She turned around to reach for another clothing. "I'm glad you feel that way, I just hope I didn't-"

She abruptly stopped in her musings as she turned around, a frown on her forehead as she held up a very familiar pair of boxers in her hands. Oikawa could feel the blood in him drain as his eyes landed on the thing in her hands.

He wondered then whose boxers were in his pocket.

The mighty Oikawa watched dumbly as Hitoka held up the pair of foreign boxers using her fingers, her small head tilted to the side. "I've never seen this one before-" she turned the boxers around and saw the one thing Oikawa never wanted her or anyone else to see.

The word "Oikawa's" was sewn neatly across the backside of the boxers using the blackest thread his older sister could find. He _knew_ she had sneaked it into his duffel bag knowing that Matsukawa would pull something on her dear brother.

His life was officially and perfectly screwed up.

"Ah." Her brown eyes flickered to his own wide ones, and he wished the earth beneath would just open up and swallow him whole.

And just when things couldn't get any worse, Hanamaki was turning around the corner that led to where the ex-Captain was at that exact moment.

"Hey, Oika-"

He stopped in his tracks as he watched a red-faced Hitoka holding up a _very_ familiar pair of grey boxers and a very still Oikawa. He could pretty much guess what happened, and before he could say anything, Oikawa went for broke and swiped the boxers from the girl, stomping his way past Hanamaki.

"C'mon, Hanamaki."

Said name scratched the back of his head as he watched Oikawa disappear into the boys' side of dorm and apologetically smiled at the small manager. She smiled back, her lips trembling at the awkwardness.

"I guess we took it a little too far this time, huh."

Hitoka could only nod dumbly. She couldn't agree more.

* * *

"Yachi, thanks for doing the laundry!"

Hitoka nodded as Hinata and Kageyama thanked her, watching as they raced to the bathroom for their baths just before dinner time. She walked past Tanaka who was talking to Sugawara about his missing pair of grey boxers, and immediately her eyes landed on Tōru from the other side of the dining hall. He looked to have heard what Tanaka was telling the Karasuno alumnus and turned to glare at a snickering Matsukawa and Hanamaki while stabbing his chopsticks into a piece of fried chicken. Iwaizumi was taking his place on the dining table next to the glaring ex-Captain, and said something that caused a pout on Oikawa's face. She laughed a little at the exchange and was reminded of how Hinata and Kageyama would glare and pout at Tsukishima's jabs in pretty much the same manner.

She was still smiling when suddenly Tōru looked up from his plate of food and his eyes found hers. He nodded at her, and she nodded back, her smile turning shy once she remembered what transpired between the just hours ago. He awkwardly turned to his food, not once looking up from his plate, and used a hand to punch Iwaizumi on the shoulder when the former Ace teasingly poked his ribs. Hanamaki must have told him about what happened and Iwaizumi was probably teasing his friend about it.

Tanaka noticed Hitoka and promptly called out to her.

"Yo, Yacchan! Thanks for the laundry! Keep up the good work!"

She jumped at his voice and nodded at the loud third year. Taking her place next to Sugawara, she dug into her own food, and listened quietly as Tanaka talked about their matches, Sugawara occasionally slipping in some comments and pointers.

Hitoka wondered about the time when it would be okay for her to take a bath herself. The managers still had to wait until everyone else was finished with dinner, and most of the guys had opted to squeeze into the baths before dinner, save for some of them who had decided to eat first. She spent quite a while at the dining hall as Sugawara did some catching up with both her and Tanaka. Daichi joined them some time after, and it took a few more minutes before the other boys stumbled into the dining hall fresh out of the baths. The ones who had foregone bath-time earlier quickly filed out the hall and took their turn for the baths.

She helped Runa and Takeda-sensei pass out the dinner and was about to do the dishes when Mizoguchi stormed in and ordered the freshmen to help out with the dishes. He shooed the managers and told them to rest for the day, and Hitoka thanked him about a hundred times before she retired for the day. Just as she was about to head to the girls' section, Dateko's coach had told her that the girls would have to use another bathroom on the other end of the building, since the one she and Runa had been using was given to the college guests since it was closer to their own specialized room. He promised the girls that the new bathroom was even more spacious and that they should not hold back on hot water.

They squealed in excitement, and didn't waste any time to fetch their toiletries.

* * *

Hitoka sighed comfortably as she walked through the hallways to check if there was anything amiss, and smiled to herself as she stretched out her arms, feeling the joints pop. The bath was good, and she was already feeling sleepy. The past nine days had been hectic, and she thought she could never take a break with all the new techniques the Karasuno regulars have learned. Nine days of early mornings and late nights, coupled with all the washing and laundry and the running around was finally catching up to her. The events of the past days sloshed about in her fuddled mind, and as she stopped in front of the storeroom, suddenly she couldn't remember the way back to her room.

She blinked, and glanced at the T-junction before her.

Was it right or left?

Crossing her arms, she thought hard and with fatigue creeping up on her, she couldn't really think straight. All she wanted was to just fall down into her soft futon but the dorm building suddenly seemed so large and the hallways suddenly looked confusing to her. She felt the pockets of her pajama pants, hoping to find her cell phone so she could ask Runa to come to the rescue, but was again disappointed when she remembered that she left it to charge in the room.

"Great, Hitoka. Just great."

She leaned against a wall, and closed her eyes as she took a deep breath. _'In, out. That's it, in and out. Okay, I can do this.'_

Finally clearing her head, and with renewed vigor, she turned down the hallway to her right, and found a very familiar junction. Walking past a fire extinguisher, one she couldn't quite remember seeing one near her room, she stopped in front of a pale blue door. She smiled, proud of herself for finding the door to her shared room with Runa. She was positive that it was their room, since the girls' bathroom wasn't supposed to be too far from it.

She slid the door open, expecting to see the night light Runa had brought with her, but was instead greeted by a very scandalous sight. The half-smile she had on her lips immediately dropped into a gape as she stood frozen.

Later in the future, Hitoka would have scolded herself for lowering her eyes. Because the next thing she remembered before she blacked out was the sight of a very fine pair of behind.

* * *

"Sorry, man. We didn't know it would go that far."

Tōru scratched his belly as he walked into the room, and immediately glared at the pair of misfits who had dared to prank him. Matsukawa, Hanamaki and Iwaizumi had left the bathroom earlier so he could enjoy using the bathtub all to himself as a peace offering. He had liked the alone time, but Tōru was still bitter about the stupid boxers prank they pulled on him.

"Shut up. You guys were waiting for something like that to happen, weren't you?" He jumped to the side as Matsukawa attempted to pull off the towel wrapped around his waist, and smirked as the ex-Captain gave him the middle finger.

"Well, it _was_ funny, wasn't it, Iwaizumi?"

The spikey haired guy hummed as he pulled on a white shirt over his head. "It's your fault for not checking your bag before heading out here. You know your sister is a wicked one if she gets down to it. Hanamaki, lend me your brush."

Pulling the towel around his neck to dry his hair, Tōru frowned. "What have I ever done to you guys, anyway? I just embarrassed myself in front of a girl. Now I can't get married."

Hanamaki yawned as he settled into his futon, and raised a brow. "Relax, it's not as if she saw you naked or anything. And you sound like a girl. By the way, your towel's slipping off, Oikawa."

The ex-Captain ignored the warning, and continued to dry his hair. "Geez, you guys are mean."

He grumbled as Iwaizumi slapped the back of his head, smirking as he did so. "Yachi-san, wasn't she? It was pretty funny how she called you Daiō-sama. You guys should get hooked up already."

Snickers were heard when Oikawa bristled at that comment, dropping his deodorant at that moment of weakness. "Why would I go out with her? It's none of your business who I go out with. Besides, she's not my type."

The towel was now dangerously low on his waist, but Tōru was busy saving his face to notice that. Matsukawa on the other hand, found this opportunity to pull another one on his former captain, and his hands inched closer to the loose knot. Noticing his intentions, the irate half-naked guy slapped Matsukawa's hand away.

"Ouch. Not your type? Seriously now?"

By this time Iwaizumi was already lying down on his futon, playing with his phone. Next to him, Matsukawa settled down into his futon as well and opened up a magazine. From his spot on the floor, Hanamaki chimed in.

"You sure she's not your type? She seems to take a liking to you, though."

Tōru pretended not to hear that. He pretended to ignore the jump in his chest at the prospect of Hitoka actually fancying him. "…I told you, she's not my type."

"Did I hear you hesitate just now?"

"I wasn't. She's cute and all but she's still not my type."

Flipping onto his side, Hanamaki smirked. "Uh-huh. Then why were you looking at her these past few days like some smitten mess."

"I'm not. I wasn't looking at her." He wasn't. He really wasn't. Not unintentionally, though. She just happened to be there. And his eyes just happened to be drawn in by her smiles.

And her wind-chime laughter. And her enthusiastic cheers.

And the playful little fist bumps she shared with Kageyama and Hinata whenever they won a practice game.

And the way she could smile so brightly even in the dead of the morning as encouragements.

If he had seen how Matsukawa was rolling his eyes at the small smile on the half-naked Oikawa, he would probably get glared at.

"Your towel's slipping off Oikawa. And you were totally checking her out, weren't you."

That got him to turn around, his back to the door, and the sudden movement caused the towel around his waist to slide down his hips. Matsukawa covered his face with the magazine, and snickered as Iwaizumi guffawed at the funny scene. "Cut it out, Hana-"

He didn't get to finish snapping at his friend though, when the door slid open to reveal a dumbstruck Hitoka Yachi by the door. The snickers stopped almost immediately at the untimely interruption. As Oikawa turned his head, he could swear whatever deity up there purposely led her eyes to flicker downwards just as the towel slid off the slope of his backside, revealing his buttocks. Her eyes stayed on his exposed butt a few seconds too long before she dragged her eyes back up just in time for him to pull the towel from his head to cover his front.

It was eerily quiet, just before she breathed in and let out a deafening scream, pinched the bridge of her nose to stop a nosebleed, and finally passing out. There was little time to think as her body went limp, and since he was the one nearest to her, Oikawa quickly moved in to catch her falling figure. The trio behind him were up instantly just as their former captain managed to capture her in his arms.

The scream woke up most of the tenants, and as fate would have it, the fastest ones to run towards the voice were the Karasuno crowd. Of course their room was next to theirs. And _of course_ they would be there in a split second. Iwaizumi couldn't really blame Tanaka and Nishinoya for roaring out-loud and the death aura surrounding Kageyama as they saw the state their manager was in.

Limp and pale, in the arms of one stark naked Tōru Oikawa.

Oh, the chaos.

* * *

Practice took place like normal the following morning, well as normal as it could be with over-protective Tanaka and Nishinoya hovering around Hitoka. And the white patch on Oikawa's right cheek as well as the small cut on the corner of his lower lip. It was so like Tanaka to punch first and ask questions later. Ennoshita, being the ever-diplomatic captain that he was, managed to calm down a raging Tanaka and gently took Hitoka into his arms. If it wasn't because of the calm captain, Oikawa would have had a hard time explaining himself.

Mizoguchi was having the time of his life annoying Oikawa with his teasing jabs, and being the sassy person he was, the brown-haired man decided to push a few of the young coach's buttons as well. A ball rolled past him, and his eyes followed it as it continued to roll to the side of the gym, hitting the side of a pair of small feet. A pair of hands picked it up, and dutifully put it back into one of the ball carts. The owner of those hand turned around just in time to look into his face, and he could feel the embarrassment coming back again.

She blushed, and turned her gaze elsewhere.

He couldn't blame her. She could probably do without having to catch an eyeful of him.

A least she didn't see his front. That would have been dangerous, on so many levels.

* * *

It was the last day of training camp, and since her incident with a naked Oikawa that night, Hitoka hadn't talked to him at all. They couldn't avoid each other since Karasuno had mostly been paired up with Aoba Johsai, but she managed to get by each remaining day with minimal contact with him. She had been struggling with a pile of dried clothes one day and had bumped into his back. He had wordlessly took off towards the laundry room with most of the load off her hands, and she felt bad because she didn't have the guts to thank him.

"Yacchan, do you need help with the seasoning?" Runa appeared next to her with a large bowl full of chopped vegetables to be skewered for the coming barbecue party.

Hitoka shook her head as she continued to rub the spices into the pieces of meat. "I'm doing fine here. Can you check if Takeda-sensei has started on the fire?"

She watched as the Johzenji's manager nod and took off towards the outdoor porch overlooking the shore. The light in the kitchen flickered for a few seconds, and Hitoka wondered if the dorm manager was notified of the faulty kitchen light. The sun was going down, and the boys were taking turns cleaning the gyms and using the bath. Strands of hair fell over her eyes, and she blew it away, regretting not wearing gloves and instead opted to rub the marinade using her bare hands. She preferred doing it with her hands though, meat tended to taste better when treated bare-handed.

As Hitoka rubbed the spices into each piece of meat, she let her thoughts drift to Oikawa. The image of the faint but apparent dips and lines on his abdomen that she remembered catching sight of filled the forefront of her mind. She felt her cheeks burning as she was reminded yet again, the childlike fidgety movements of his when she had pulled out the grey boxers with his name stitched onto it with bold black letters. The Kanji characters of his surname was artfully sewn on the backside of the boxers, and almost immediately she recalled that part of him that she was exposed to. A giggle escaped her lips when she thought about how he had covered the front of himself, even in that situation.

Then she stilled. A gasp escaped her lips.

"Wait, I… I saw him naked didn't I?"

She bit her lip. How could she do that to him? He must have been embarrassed! She saw him stand there in all his birthday suit glory!

Hitoka felt like knocking her head into a wall as punishment. What if he was traumatized? He surely must be more than traumatized! He must have felt violated by her roving eyes that night, judging by the way he had pretty much avoided any eye contact with her. Her shoulders slumped as she thought of all the possible ways she had screwed his life over.

He was seen naked. And she was partly to blame for it. Now he probably wouldn't be able to show anyone else his body, he wouldn't even participate in physical check-ups due to the trauma, which was important for an athlete such as him. People would question his reluctance to undergo any sort of check-ups and he might be stripped off from tournaments for not cooperating! He would lose his popularity and women would not want to have anything to do with a man who already had his body exposed to such a plain girl like herself! She had most probably rob his chances of getting married!

She sniffed as she felt the onslaught of tears. "Oikawa-san… I'm sorry… I'll take responsibility."

Yes, she would take responsibility! As Nishinoya would say in times as such, she would take the bull by the horns and take responsibility of robbing Oikawa's chances of being a groom!

She would marry him herself!

Hitoka nodded determinedly to herself as she made that decision, and caused the strands to fall over her eyes again. She shook her head to get them off her eyes and the small bun on her head came undone instead. Huffing in annoyance, the girl wished that she had gotten a haircut before coming to the training camp. Just as she was contemplating of washing her hands and tie her hair, and thinking it was going to be a pain to wash her hands only to get them covered in spices a few seconds later, she heard footsteps entering the kitchen.

Turning around, she hoped it to be Hinata looking for something to drink. The light flickered off a little bit longer, and for a few short seconds darkness engulfed her. The person bumped into something, probably one of the kitchen counters, and the light turned back on again. The sight of Oikawa appearing suddenly behind her spooked her, and she ended shouting out "Hogyaaa!" before her heart rate returned to normal upon realizing his presence. The Seijoh graduate stopped in his tracks when she turned around to look at him, her right eye covered by her hair.

"Oh. Hey there. I scared you, huh."

She nodded at him, and ended up laughing nervously at her sudden outburst. He was about to quickly grab a water bottle and make a dash when she suddenly spoke up.

"Um, Oikawa-san, can you um… help me a bit?"

He stuffed his hands into his pockets, and studied her. She was in one of the black Karasuno collared T-shirts, and had seasoning covering her small hands. Her shoulder-length hair gathered at one side of her neck, and with one eye covered by her hair, he admitted that she looked strangely endearing. Attractions work in the strangest of ways, and as he approached her small back, he admitted that he was, indeed, drawn to her. At this revelation, a small smile painted his face, and the tinge of pink coloring her cheeks was really worth watching.

"What can I help you with?"

"I have a scrunchy in my pocket. Can you um… tie my hair for me?"

He raised an eyebrow and blinked at her request. "Fine but… are you okay with it?"

She laughed shyly, and when she lightly shook her head, strands of hair moved softly with the motion. His fingers itched to run through her light-hued hair. The thought made him inwardly cringe, and didn't fail to remind him how hard he had fallen for her.

"I'm actually quite embarrassed, but considering how wasteful it is to wash off these spices just to tie my hair I think I can manage. Um, if you're okay with it. I mean, if you don't want to then I can just wash my hands and do it… myself…because it's weird telling someone to tie my hair for me… because it would be awkward and… strange and weird and… Sorry I'm just rambling aren't I?"

She laughed again, and he shook his head. "No, I'm fine with it. So, which pocket is it?"

"My left one. Um, I'm ticklish, so if you could take it out slowly… sorry, I'm being silly."

He chuckled, and without her noticing he swiftly took out the scrunchy from her pocket. "No, you're not. So um, if you'll excuse me…"

Her breath caught in her chest as she felt his hands gather her hair and tied it in a high ponytail, swiftly and wordlessly, as if he had done it countless times. "There you go. Better?"

He reached out a hand and tucked a loose strand behind her ear, and promptly swallowed that nonexistent lump in his throat as he was met with her smile and her pink cheeks. The smile was so earnest that he kind of felt bad for being on the receiving end of it. It was as if she was thanking him for saving the world or something. "Thank you, that's much better."

Maybe if he just bend a bit, he could reach her lips with his. But he couldn't since Kindaichi chose that time to stick his head in the kitchen and call out to him. The sophomore didn't even realize how unnaturally close his former captain was standing with Karasuno's manager.

"Oikawa-san, the guys are calling for you. They need help with the second gym. Oh, Yachi-san. Hi there."

Hitoka returned Kindaichi's greeting and Oikawa had to refrain from objecting to his request, and instead he followed after his junior. Just before he stepped out of the kitchen, Hitoka called out to him.

"Um, thank you again, Oikawa-san."

He grinned. "You're welcome."

When he disappeared, Hitoka sighed. She forgot to apologize to him for walking into the wrong room. And there she thought she was determined to take the responsibility of defiling his body with her eyes. She shook her head as the familiar feeling of defeat consumed her.

"No, I can do this. Tonight, I'll tell him tonight!"

* * *

"Tōru Oikawa!"

Laughter stopped and heads turned at the spectacle before them. The name in question blinked dumbly at the girl who stood barely up to his chest in her full height.

"Yes?"

Bright brown orbs bore into his very being as she looked up at him.

"I'm sorry to have walked in on the room and seen you naked!"

He shot a glare at the snickering guys before he looked down at her. "It's not your fault-"

"I will take responsibility! Please date me with the intent of marriage!"

The snickers stopped, and only the sound of waves crashing against the shore filled the silence. that was until Kageyama choked on a piece of meat, and Oikawa watched dumbly as Hitoka hurried over to pat the setter on his back, offering a glass of water. As if she hadn't gone out and proposed to a guy mere seconds ago.

There was the sound of firewood cracking and meat sizzling away on the grill, but other than those, the venue was silent. The sophomore setter thanked her for the water, and she turned back to a dumbfounded Oikawa. He chanced a glance around him and feeling everyone's eyes bore into him, he sighed.

"C'mon, follow me."

He grabbed her hand and walked briskly towards the dorms, Hitoka's hurried footsteps stumbling after his long strides. Tōru rolled his eyes as cheers broke through the silence. Some random guy had shouted out "Good luck Oikawa! Congratulations on getting married, kiddo!"

Hitoka blinked as she turned around to see the receding figures of her friends. "U-Um… Oikawa-san."

The sounds faded as they walked through the kitchen backdoor and disappeared altogether as he led her to the lobby of the rented dormitory. Flicking on the lights by the empty reception desk, Oikawa swallowed the lump in his throat before he turned to face her. Her hair was disheveled by the brisk walking just then and his chest nearly exploded when she tilted her head to the side. He cursed her ability to manage to look so damn cute when he was trying to make sense of things.

Oikawa had the sudden epiphany that the girl might just be the death of him. And she would forever remain oblivious to that fact.

"Is… is that a no?"

He sighed heavily and slumped into one of the sofas in the center of the lobby. "Damnit."

She gasped as he buried his face into his hands. "You… do you hate me now?"

He was quiet for a moment, before he groaned. Suddenly he stood up from the sofa and advanced towards her. She nervously looked up at him as her back hit a wall, his arms caging her against him so that the only way she could look was up into his eyes. "O-Oikawa-san?"

She yelped when he dropped his forehead onto her shoulder, unable to see the small smile on his face as he caught a whiff of peaches under the overpowering scent of Salonpas.

"So? What was that about taking responsibility?"

He could feel her bringing her hands up in the small space between his body and hers, and as he pulled back a little, he saw her twiddling her thumbs. Her eyes were focused onto a spot just below his throat, and the way she was worrying her bottom lip made him want to kiss her just for the heck of it.

"W-well… that night, I saw you… uh… saw your… um.."

"So you saw me naked. And?"

She swallowed when she felt his eyes bore into her being. "Um, and my mother keep telling me that I can only let the man I'm supposed to marry to see my b-body. And if another man sees it then I can't get married anymore. So since… since on that night the events were reversed, I thought that maybe the same applies to you…"

He couldn't help the smirk on his lips. "So you're saying that since you've seen my bare ass then I can't get married."

Oikawa couldn't help the grin when her cheeks burned scarlet at the mention of his backside. She frowned a bit before adding in a small voice, "I feel responsible. Because of me you might end up being lonely."

"You sound like a guy who got his girlfriend pregnant or something."

When she kept her eyes downwards, he pulled up his hand and gently eased the frown on her forehead. "You sure that's the only reason you came up with the crazy proposal?"

She looked up into his face, her lower lip caught between her teeth, before she embarrassingly said something under her breath. Oikawa raised a brow, and using his fingers, he tilted her chin so he could look at her face. "What was that?"

"N-Not really. Truthfully, I was trying to find an excuse for you to d-date me… I guess. I don't know why but I really really really like you and… it's weird because I only got to really know you two weeks ago and I don't know why you would even consider a girl like me. You just… lately I can't think straight when it comes to you and I don't… I don't know anymore!"

Her sudden outburst made him pull back a little. When she looked up at him, cheeks red and brown eyes glinting, Oikawa knew that he wasn't wrong to think that he was starting to like her even more. It was amazing how two weeks could change a person's heart.

"So you're using that incident to blackmail me into dating you? Aah, Yachi-san… isn't that quite improper?"

Hitoka gasped. "I'm sorry! I wasn't trying to blackmail you!"

He laughed at her wide eyes and her trembling lips, and decided to frazzle her a little more. He wasn't Tōru Oikawa if he didn't tease people.

"What if I said no?"

She stopped fidgeting so suddenly he thought she was frozen. That was until she meekly spoke up. "You're… rejecting me?"

The grin on his face faltered at her crestfallen face, and his heart twisted and turned and he felt like a jerk for putting that face on her. He cleared his throat. "That was a 'what if'. I didn't say I was rejecting you."

That got her eyes to brighten up. "Eh? So you're saying yes?"

"What if I had to say no? What would you have done?"

She tilted her head and put a finger on her chin, her eyes screwed shut as she thought about it seriously. For a moment his eyes flickered to her lips, and he was sorely tempted to just gather her up in his arms and kiss her silly. But before he could, her eyes popped open and the goofiest smile lit up her face.

"Then I guess I would keep trying to make you look my way. You know… doing things like… u-um… things that a guy would like."

She was turning into a blushing mess again, and his eyes lowered to focus on her lips. "What do you think a guy like me would like?"

When he dragged his eyes to look into her brown ones, her bush deepened, knowing where he was looking at. "Volleyball."

Her eyes darted to the side as she felt his body closing in on herself, feeling his warm breath tickle her cheek as he lowered his head. "Only volleyball?"

She could feel the tip of his nose as it brushed against her temple. "And other… things."

The puff of warm air as he chuckled sent shivers down her spine, and she curled her fingers into his chest as he used a hand to cup her cheek so he could look at her. Her eyes screwed shut when he brushed his lips on her forehead and her nose. It was a few silent moments when Hitoka heard him mumble her given name under his breath before he dipped his head and pressed his lips to hers. As soon as he felt her responding to the kiss he immediately moved the hand on her cheek to tangle in her hair and held her head in place, slanting his mouth over hers so he could fell her better.

She gasped when she felt him lick her bottom lip, and he used the opportunity to explore her even more. He nearly broke the kiss to grin stupidly as her hands ran up his chest to grip his shoulders, her body turning to putty as he snaked his other arm around her waist to pull her closer. By the time they broke apart for some air, she was already on her tiptoes, her body pulled flushed against his larger one. A smile broke out on her face amidst her blushing cheeks, and he thought that he had never seen a sight so pretty in his life.

"So is that a yes, Oikawa-san?"

He smirked and pecked her on the lips, before replying. "What do you think?"

"You're really okay?"

He raised a brow at that. "You're still asking me that after torturing me for days on end?"

Her brows shot up. "When did I do that?"

Oikawa didn't know whether to cry or laugh at her question. She really wasn't Hitoka if she had caught onto him sneaking glances at her and smiling afterwards.

"You better take responsibility for this, ya hear me?"

She surprised him when she held his face in her hands and pecked him on the lips. The little grin she sported nearly made his knees go weak. Nearly.

"Of course!"

* * *

 **A/N: There ya go. Um… I myself don't really know what I've done here. The idea came like a tidal wave in the first half an hour, and somehow during the middle I kinda lost sight of stuff. Sorry 'bout that. But I do hope that this chapter have recharged your OikaYachi feels. Please leave a review and tell me what you think.**

 **P/S: I was wondering if I should put in a youkai AU as the next installment. I'd probably just go ahead with it though.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Yabai Koi Series**

 **A/N: Hey there. I actually have another exam on the day after tomorrow, and I've still a bunch of reading to do. But ya know, just when you're too frustrated looking at equations and matlab codes, somehow the ideas come with a vengeance, and the keyboard tends to look a little bit too pretty. So about this chapter, I didn't use a name to address Toru's sister. I tend to avoid giving names to characters that might or might not be canon. For me, I am comfortable with him having a big sister, so I'll go with that. Um... if I'm right that's called headcannon, right? Gosh I'm still new to these terms. I hope you'll enjoy this family chapter.**

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own this anime and the characters within it. I just own the baby. Wait, that sounded wrong now did it?

 **#8:** He caressed the swollen belly, and couldn't help the little smile on his lips when he felt the tiny kick. "Oi kiddo, hurry up and get out already. Your mom needs something better to do than sabotage my underwear."

* * *

In his 21 years of life, Tōru ought to learn not to trust his sister with his apartment. The shack might be small and simple, but he rented the place using his own money from the scholarship fund, so to him it was still his baby.

He sighed and felt like pulling his hair out as he opened the door to his rented space. "Take care of things my ass. I leave you alone for half a day and I come back to this mess?"

He grumbled as he stepped onto an emptied bottle of prenatal vitamins just as he entered the small living room. There she was sitting on the cushion in front of the t.v. watching some home-gardening show, amidst their scattered dried laundry with her big pregnant belly threatening to burst just about anytime. She was biting onto a larger-than-life rice cracker while her hands were busy sewing their shared surname onto his boxers. This time she chose lime green on black, and after throwing his bag onto the kitchen counter, he crossed his arms.

"What are you doing? Those are new."

She looked up from the boxers she rested on her belly, rice cracker still in her mouth. "Mfhm fhfm fufu."

Throwing his head back, the younger of the two Oikawas let out another huge sigh. "Geez, don't talk with your mouth full."

He glared at the stack of empty pudding bowls and the empty cups on the coffee table, and snatched a rice cracker for himself, ignoring the protest from the pregnant woman. "How come a pregnant woman manage to turn this place into a dump anyway."

Even with the grumbling, he still moved around his immobile sister to clean the table top. She finished the last of her cracker, and rolled her brown eyes. She cursed when she stabbed her thumb, and pouted at her one and only brother as he turned off the t.v. and started collecting the clothes into the laundry basket. In less than fifteen minutes, he was already standing a few steps back, hands on his waist to admire his cleaning skills. Iwaizumi would've been be proud of him. The neat freak was the one who trained him all those years ago.

"This, my brethren, is how a living space should look like."

The older sister clicked her tongue as she continued her mission of sabotaging his underwear. "Stop nagging will ya. Have a heart here, I'm pregnant okay. I'm delicate right now."

He snorted. "Yeah yeah. And Takeru's a girl."

Tōru watched resignedly as she made the final stitch, and held up the article of clothing to admire her handiwork. If he wasn't the victim, he would have even admired her intricate craftsmanship. Embroidering Kanji words were a feat in itself, but somehow she misused it. Talk about abuse of power.

He rolled up his sleeves to get started on the pile of dishes in the sink, his bare feet padding through the floorboards. "You should really stop doing that. The last time you did, I embarrassed myself in front of Hitoka."

He heard her snickering as she admired her handiwork. "Oh hush, you. I'm doing this out of love."

"Maybe if you had said that without that creepy-ass grin on your face I'd probably believe one third of it."

"Meanie!"

Even without turning around, he managed to avoid the home slippers she had tossed at him. The fluffy footwear ended up in the sink and using his forefinger and thumb, he picked it out and tossed it into the dryer. "Gross."

"That's it, where's that new pair of boxers you bought last week?"

He finished wiping off his hands with a towel and turned around just in time to snatch the basket and move it out of her reach. She wouldn't bother herself reaching for something if she had already made herself comfortable in one place, and he knew her too well. He was her brother after all. Teasing each other was a trait in the Oikawa bloodline. Smirking, he stood before the t.v. with his hands on his waist. "You lose, whale woman."

That got her to click irately at him, before she chuckled herself. "Okay okay, kiddo."

He frowned and went to the kitchen, only to return with two mugs of tea. Setting them onto the coffee table, he plopped next to his sister. "I'm not a kid anymore."

Brown eyes so identical to his, from the dark oak down to the amber flecks, smiled even before her lips followed. "You're still years away from me, Tōru." She pinched his right cheek, only to let go and throw her head back in laughter as he yelped.

He rubbed his sore cheek before grumbling out, "You brute."

She hummed, neither confirming nor denying it. Wincing as she straightened her back to reach for her tea, she gratefully smiled at him as he helped her. When he reached for his mug with his right hand, she smiled as she caught the flash of the silver band he wore on his middle finger. She took a sip from her mug, before settling it next to her thigh, and after she interlaced her fingers together on top of her swollen belly, she gently caressed her own golden ring on her left ring finger.

"We're getting married after I give birth to this girl."

If he was surprised, then Tōru didn't show it. He turned on the t.v. and stopped at a rerun of the Koshien games. The volume was turned down very low, and she knew him too well to know that he wasn't really watching it. The boy (to her she would always be her little cute brother) hated silence. He had enough of it growing up in a household of busy parents and an older sibling who was barely home. Most often than not, she always wondered if he was purposely being the noisy and bright character to fill the silence.

Oh, she had been watching too much Dr. Phil again.

He turned to watch her unlace her fingers and caress the baby bump. "What's up with you two? You wait until Takeru's in middle school and _then_ get married?"

She pouted. "Well, it can't be helped. He's in the Navy, he rarely comes home. We did plan on getting married when I popped out Takeru, but he had just been promoted and he couldn't easily get a clearance."

"What about Takeru? He's okay with that?"

She nodded, and made a 'V' sign with her left hand. "He's super cool about it. The tree of us have been waiting a long time for this."

She took a peek at her brother as he silently sipped his tea. He caught her staring at him, and raised a brow. "What?"

"Nothing. Just that you've really been helping out a lot, Tōru. Thanks. I wish I could do something for you."

He grinned. "You can sponsor my future wedding if you want. Give Hitoka the most expensive wedding dress that you have."

His sister frowned. "Money-pincher."

"Stingy. You're rich from all that design work aren't you? Don't lie to me."

She laughed again, and suddenly winced when the baby kicked again. "Seriously, this girl kicks a lot. Maybe she's gonna make you her favorite uncle and force you to play horsie all day long."

He rolled his eyes. "I'm the _only_ uncle there is."

He abandoned his half-finished tea to silently watch her make circling motions on her belly. "A girl huh?"

"Yep."

There was anticipation in his eyes, before he spoke up again. "Can I?"

"Sure." She grinned, and placed his lingering right hand on top of the baby bump. He raised a brow as he felt the hard skull pressing at the lower part of her belly, and slowly swept over the middle. He continued to caress the swollen belly, and couldn't help the little smile on his lips when he felt the tiny kick.

"Oi kiddo, hurry up and get out already. Your mom needs something better to do than sabotage my underwear. And maybe while you're at it, teach her some manners will ya."

She threw her back and laughed so hard that tears were forming in the corner of her eyes. Taking a deep breath, she hummed as she saw that silver ring again.

"Is that a promise ring I see there?"

His hand stopped moving over her belly, and he nodded without looking up. "What? You gonna laugh at me?"

She made an exaggerated gasp, covering her mouth with the back of her hand. "Never!"

"Uh-huh."

She ruffled his hair. "I find it admirable. Cute even. The last time I saw Hitoka-chan was when she passed the entrance exam to Toudai."

"Yep."

"Iwaizumi told me she was the one who proposed to you, huh? When was that again?"

He snorted as he pulled his hand back and leaned against the wall, bringing a knee up to his chest. "The training camp two years ago. After I embarrassed myself in front of her."

She gasped, and smacked his thigh, ignoring the surprised cry from his lips. "I told you! Those boxers were a lucky charm!"

"Hardly."

"Aw, look at you, all embarrassed! Just admit it, you must have seduced her or something! One does not just propose to a guy out of whim."

Well, it really _was_ a whim at first. On Hitoka's part, at least. But he wouldn't tell her that.

"I didn't need to do anything like that." If anything, _she_ was the one who drew him in. His lips turned up a little at that thought, and of course his sister saw that.

"So was it one of those shoujo-manga-like situations? Boy meets girl at a training camp and falls in love and decided that they found the one and only after spending time for a couple of weeks?"

He tilted his head, and unashamedly admitted it. "Well, yeah I guess so. Thinking back on that time, it was pretty surreal."

By that time her eyes were sparkling as she gripped onto his arm. "So you kind of knew? Like, you guys felt some find electricity when your hands brushed or something like that?"

This time he was blinking at her, and made a weird face. "There wasn't any electricity or something-like-that. We just knew, okay."

"Eeeeh? Boooring! Boo!"

"Stop that. I know the way we did things weren't normal, but the important thing is we found each other. And even now, I think it's just amazing for us to be both studying here in Tokyo."

"Gee, you really _are_ whipped aren't you?"

He thought about it for a while, and as his eyes fell onto the silver band on his middle finger, he grinned. "You have no idea."

"Oh my god, ew. Stop acting like that."

Tōru raised his brows. "Like what?"

"Like she's everything you ever wanted."

"I don't wanna hear that from you. You're just as much as disgusting when you gush about him."

She pouted, and huffed in annoyance as he stood up just in time to avoid being pinched in the arm. "Meanie!"

He half-heartedly waved a hand as he went to the kitchen to find some more snack to eat. "Yeah yeah. You still love me anyway."

For a moment, she watched silently as her brother opened the fridge, his right hand with the ring keeping the door open while he looked for something to snack on. He shut the door, and played with the ring on his finger as he mentally listed the things he would need to stock up on. There were times when the boy would look as if he was thinking hard as he stared at a picture of the girl he kept in his smart phone, probably about how their relationship would fare after getting together. She knew that sometimes he would worry if the same thing that befell their family would happen to them as well–parents fighting, divorcing, and fights over who should take the kids.

Hell, who wouldn't. After growing up like that.

But she knew how much he wanted for this to work. She felt tears stinging her eyes as she saw his eyes soften at the thought of the girl, and of the other times when she would catch him talking with her on the phone. Despite both of them studying at Tokyo, they were too busy with classes and other shenanigans to actually meet up. Even then, when she would catch him talking to Hitoka on the phone, the glint in his eyes and his laughter showed just how much he adored her.

She sipped on her tea again, hiding the smile behind the rim of the mug. "Yeah, you're right."

He stuck his head out from the kitchen. "What?"

"You're a meanie but I still love you anyway."

* * *

 **A/N: There you have it. I was intending for it to be short, but somehow I got over-excited. Thanks for the reviews for the last chapter, I couldn't help smiling reading them. By the way, some people didn't like my idea of pairing Oikawa up with Yachi. After almost ten years being an author here, I've gotten my fair share of haters and flames, but I don't really like to rant about what others think of my stories. This site is called fanfiction for a reason, and I post what I like. I'm not fond of yaoi and yuri but I don't interfere with authors who write them. Each to their own, right?**

 **So anyway, for those who are wondering;**

 **Toudai:** an abbreviation for Tokyo Daigaku (Tokyo University)

 **Koshien:** normally when Japanese say Koshien, they are actually referring to national high school baseball tournaments. It's actually a baseball stadium that was built to host the national high school baseball tournaments. So if one were to say "I'm going to Koshien" it means to "Play in the Nationals". Apparently baseball in Japan is a big thing.

 **Shoujo:** a genre aimed at young girls. Mostly associated with romance and all the cheesy romantic stuff. Though there are also known tags to have shounen and romance in it. Josei is a genre aimed for women in general, and most of the time involves some sexual situations. But most of us know about these kind of stuff, right?


	9. Chapter 9

**Yabai Koi Series**

 **A/N: Hi! It's been a while, huh? Thank you for the support and reviews ^_^. Here's a gift from me.**

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own this anime and the characters within it. **  
**

**#9: [AU]** people used to say that Hitoka would be his bride when he grew up, and he would have laughed. Now not so much. 

* * *

**#9**

He was very much liked by a lot of people and was hated as much by others. Tōru Oikawa was aware of that, which was why he never had any shortage of fan letters and admirers. The popular streak he had going on through his years of Junior High continued through his three years in High School, and extended to his years in university. Reaching his third year, it could be said that the amounts of love letters, valentine's chocolates and confessions he received never seemed to dwindle. They were a daily occurrence to him, and so he became accustomed to females chasing after him. Rumors were second nature to his existence. Recently, there were rumors of him dating a professor from one of his classes. 'Dating' was an understatement. For the past couple of weeks, 'dating' somehow changed to 'sleeping with'. The only person who knew the rumor wasn't true and far from it was Iwaizumi.

"You sure seem carefree. For someone with rumors swarming around you like flies."

He gave one of his engaging smiles, one that made women turn to puddle except a certain light-haired junior of them. A smile that was purposely given to irk the already irritated Iwaizumi.

"Why shouldn't I be? They're not true anyway."

To not let that smile get to him like it usually did, the former Wing Spiker shrugged a shoulder, purposely making sure it bumped against Oikawa's. "Gee, I don't know. Maybe because she actually _did_ come on to you that one time."

Iwaizumi's arms pricked with the sudden Goosebumps when he thought of the hickey on his friend's collarbone, left as proof. Oikawa's hand instinctively reached for the hidden spot, his throat clearing a bit. "Well, no one would know about that. Unless someone strips me down. Which won't happen."

Beside him, his friend raised a brow. Judging from the amount of girls who were eager to get into Tōru's bed after that rumor, Iwaizumi wasn't so sure of that. "Uh-huh. You should better come up with another reason to be so friggin breezy about everything."

"And why should I?" They had walked past the campus gates and continued walking towards their apartment complex a few blocks down the road.

"Because Hitoka's starting to believe it too. It's hard not to, ya know. Knowing how you are with women."

That made the Setter stop in his tracks. "The hell was that supposed to mean?" Iwaizumi looked back with a smirk to mean that it meant what it was supposed to mean. Tōru's gaze was unwavering as he spoke up confidently. "She won't. She's not that type of person."

A few paces behind them, a trio of kindergarten children with too-big yellow hats were walking hand-in-hand, happily chattering away. One of them bumped into Oikawa's side as they were rushing to cross the road, and the man helped the boy up, a small smile on his face when the toddler meekly apologized and thanked him. He couldn't help the extra tilt in his smile. _'Cute.'_

From beside him, his childhood friend rolled his eyes. The guy might be a little loose in the head at given times, but Oikawa sure had a soft spot for kids. And Hitoka Yachi.

"You sure about that? I don't know if you noticed or not, but she's been avoiding you these past few weeks."

The brunette pouted, and they both started to walk again. "What makes you so sure she's not avoiding you, rather than me?"

The black-haired man raised a brow, with a face that clearly said, 'Seriously, you're asking me that?' Admitting that okay, maybe Iwaizumi was right about her avoiding him, the brunet scratched a spot behind his neck that wasn't itchy.

"That doesn't mean she's starting to believe the rumors. You know her, Iwa-chan. Yacchan won't believe a shitty rumor like that."

"What kind of rumor?"

They both stopped in their tracks when they heard her from behind them. Turning around, they were met with a petite figure holding up a couple of boxes with brushes and canvass rolls sticking out. Most of the stuff covered her face, but she could still see through the gap of white canvasses. She looked to be struggling holding the materials up and Tōru couldn't help but think how adorable she was, hence the smile he sported. From beside him, Iwaizumi rolled his eyes as discreetly as he could. _'Talk about looking like a love-struck idiot.'_

"Yo, Hitoka. Want us to help you with those?" He approached the college freshman to help lighten the burden, purposely hitting his friend's elbow to startle the guy. Oikawa seemed to snap out of it and subtly pushed his friend away to get to her faster. It never ceased to amaze the spiky-haired guy how his friend could be so childish at times.

She sighed in relief as Tōru lifted the box with the most stuff in it, and grinned as she was met with his face. "Thank you, Oikawa-san."

His smile widened. He hadn't been able to see her smiling face up-close since the 'dating Professor Miyabi' rumor morphed into 'sleeping with'. He was glad he'd stayed back at the library until closing time to study with his best friend. "You're welcome. You can give that box to Iwa-chan."

"Yeah, c'mere. What were you thinking, bringing all these stuff home. You're supposed to have a locker for these, don't you?"

Hitoka laughed sheepishly as she handed the other box, "Isn't it okay? Home isn't too far from school, and I can do some new projects with all the left overs. Besides, obaa-san said to use the both of you whenever I can."

Oikawa laughed at that. "Geez, mom's really onto us."

Iwaizumi clicked his tongue. "Talk about free labor."

The three of them continued to walk towards the same direction, turning at a corner at some point. Iwaizumi asked her about her presentation that had taken place that morning, and she had replied with a thumbs up. They spent the entire walk home listening to her recollection of the hectic days before the presentation was due, and arrived at the apartment complex they all had rented. Fukurou Complex had been cheap, despite the apartments having a separate bedroom and small living room as well as being near to their campus. The only problem was that the walls were thin. Awfully so. Oikawa could still remember hearing his next door neighbor sing along to Frozen. At midnight. When he had an exam the very next morning. Needless to say, he was never going to let his niece watch the damned movie again. Not while he was still alive.

So both Oikawa and Iwaizumi had to buy soundproof sponges and installed them to their walls themselves when they first moved in. They even told Hitoka beforehand to prepare for the soundproofing, else she wouldn't be able to even take a light nap with how thin the walls were. The boys were lucky their scholarship fund provided more than enough for them, but Hitoka couldn't afford it since her scholarship was just enough for college tuition. Her mother had wanted to help, since she _did_ put aside a fair amount of funds for her education, but the girl had been adamant to try and be independent.

So the first month she moved in, she had lacked sleep and developed dark circles almost every other week. Both her neighbors on either sides were either watching sports channels or fighting with whoever came to see them in the middle of the night. When the boys managed to learn of her problem they had forced her to use some of their funding, but she refused. The next couple of weeks they came by to convince her again, but by then her walls were already covered with soundproofing. At that time even she was surprised to see two men come over and install the cream-colored sponges. Turned out her divorced father got wind of it and immediately sent his men to install the walls.

They had totally forgotten how her father was crazy rich. And how annoyingly doting he was when it came to his one and only princess. Apparently her mother on the other hand, was a demon to the balding businessman. It still baffled them both to see how two very proud and loud people ended up having sweet Hitoka as their child.

"You can put them in that corner. Thanks again."

The guys nodded and moved to retreat to their apartments upstairs when she tugged onto Oikawa's sleeve. Iwaizumi raised a brow as he saw the slight flush in her cheeks and the way she had quickly pulled her hand away, apologizing. "What is it, Hitoka?"

She was fumbling with her fingers, suddenly looking nervous but determined to say something. Finally after a few moments debating by herself, she took a breath and looked up into their faces.

"I-Um… To be honest, I've been avoiding Oikawa-san. Because you know, um, the rumors."

At that moment, said name nervously tucked his hands into his pockets, and being the good friend he was, Iwaizumi walked over to give a reassuring squeeze on Oikawa's shoulder. "Rumors? About this idiot here sleeping around with Professor Miyabi?"

Okay maybe not so reassuring. He didn't miss the sharp glare from Oikawa.

Her face turned scarlet at the mere mention of 'sleeping with' and she nodded. "It's not that I believe that rumor, I mean, you're not that kind of person, Oikawa-san."

Iwaizumi wondered if his friend noticed how red his ears were at the trusting smile she gave and immediately thought that the two should just hurry it up and confess already. All of the awkward shy smiles were getting really out of hand.

Hitoka continued though. "It's just that other people were saying rude things behind your back so I went to ask the professor, to help clear things up. And then she told me she wouldn't mind if um… you know… if you wanted to make the rumors true… so I felt a little uneasy… and she told me she had already um… made a mark on you… I didn't know what to do if what she said was true so I ended up avoiding you."

That seemed to snap Oikawa into attention. "She _what?!_ "

Iwaizumi could feel his brows shoot up his forehead. "Really? Damn… Oi Trashykawa, what now? She was right about the hickey though."

"Hey, wait-Iwa-chan!"

"Hi- _Hickey?!_ " Hitoka couldn't help the hitch in her voice. Oikawa brought up both of his hands in a defensive stance.

"Well, half of that was true..."

Before Hitoka could ask them which half was true, Iwaizumi yanked on the collar of his friend's shirt, revealing a red blotch on the left of his collarbone. It was, without a doubt, a hickey.

The only thing Hitoka could think to say was, "I-It's so red."

* * *

Oikawa watched in boredom as Iwaizumi slurped his bowl of udon, intermittently stopping to talk to the other occupant of their table. His own bowl of Gyuudon was long finished before Hitoka came to the same establishment for her dinner. As if it was second in nature, she immediately smiled that big grin of hers when she spotted them a few tables down the counter and took her seat in front of him. She had ordered a big bowl of Gyuudon herself, and had dug in with gusto. He smiled a little at her appreciation of the simple dish. It was always amazing to see how someone of her size was able to gobble up a whole bowl of rice all by herself. Hitoka must have picked up that habit when she became the manager of the boys' volleyball club back then when they were still in high school.

"Eh? Really? I thought third years were supposed to start job hunting around spring. How about you, Oikawa-san?"

He was a little bit disappointed that she hadn't noticed him watching her the whole time, but he still answered her. "I've already done that. Gonna start working in Kanto Hospital the moment I graduate."

Iwaizumi clicked his tongue, and nicked a piece of the gyoza Hitoka had ordered along with her bowl of rice, ignoring her protest as he stuffed it into his mouth. "Dumbass here has good luck at least. I don't how he'd survive if he wasn't. Hey this gyoza's really good."

Hitoka covered her mouth as she giggled, the smile lines and that distinct dimple in her right cheek making her look the prettiest when she laughed, was what Oikawa liked most about her. She was oblivious to that though, as it had always been since forever. The former setter suppressed a sigh as he thought about how things had become as different as they were when they had been small children.

It had all started with only the two of them. It had been Hitoka and Tōru growing up as childhood friends. Tōru and Hitoka. The Child Emperor and his trusted aide. They were next door neighbors. Her mother was especially close to his family since Madoka had been his mother's best friend. Hitoka, then a little girl, had always been tagging along whenever he went beetle hunting and fox-tracking. His older sister was far older than he was, so he had taken very well to Hitoka. They became even closer after Hitoka's parents divorced. He had been eight years old, and she was just six. And then when he turned ten, they became fast friends with Iwaizumi. Over the years, as they grew up, people had always thought that they would end up together. It seemed to be a perfect match, even. Even Iwaizumi had asked Oikawa point-blank if he actually liked the girl, that one time during elementary school. Of course he denied, and made a face that clearly implied he'd rather eat a worm.

Ten years old turned to fourteen, and when his family saw how Tōru had worried how the girl would fare on her first day of middle school, they had an inkling of his feelings for her even he himself hadn't realized. Seeing that, his grandparents used to say that Hitoka would be his bride when he grew up, and that they would make a perfect couple.

The boy had laughed so hard, and asked them if they were crazy. He remembered telling them 'That's disgusting, knock it out will ya.'

Every time he thought of what he said that time made him cringe. He was such a mean bastard if he were to say himself.

"A cat?" Iwaizumi had turned to sipping his tea. There was another gyoza left on her plate, and Tōru eyed the piece of dumpling and suddenly thought of how lucky whoever managed to make Hitoka his.

The woman realized how intently Oikawa had been watching the gyoza, and picked it up with her chopsticks. He raised a brow as she pushed the piece to him, motioning for him to open his mouth. A smile spread over her lips again as he chewed on the food, when she suddenly blushed as she realized she had just fed him using her chopsticks. He didn't seem to notice though. She turned back to Iwaizumi while she nursed her cup of tea between her hands. "Uh-huh, I found it behind the convenience store. I mean, it wasn't even a cat. It was still a kitten. I'm thinking of bringing it home if it's still there tomorrow."

Oikawa himself didn't really know when he realized he fell for her. If he were to think back on those times during high school, he had probably liked her all along. He started to notice her when she had signed up as a manager for the volleyball team. It was weird, really. He knew she was a friendly person, and her smiles were never-ending. But it was only then he realized how her smiles managed to pull him out of a slump, how her words of encouragements and cheers spurred him to play better during matches. He remembered how he saw nothing but red when a few players from a rival school harassed her, and how annoyed he felt when some of his teammates made advances on her. Of course, she was oblivious to their intentions, which made it even more frustrating to him. Then everything clicked into place that moment the three of them went to watch the fireworks on their last summer before he and Iwaizumi went to university.

He remembered the time they watched the fireworks, Hitoka in her Yukata and him in his simple cotton t-shirt (of course Iwaizumi was behind them, watching in amusement). And without thinking he had actually told her he liked her.

But of course, she had been busy watching the fireworks and as she turned to him with a clueless look on her face, he knew she hadn't heard him.

That fact squandered every ounce of his pride that night, and what made it even worse was the fact that Iwaizumi saw the exchange and had never bore himself using it as blackmail material.

"I'm gonna go first. Mom wants me to buy some stuff at the store before it closes. Oi Trashykawa. Don't try any funny business when you walk Hitoka home, aite?"

Said name shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know any Trashykawa."

Hitoka laughed again when Iwaizumi raised a brow at that comment. "Oh? Thought that was your name."

Tōru waved him off, "Yeah yeah. I know already geez. Go away already."

They both watched the tallest of them walk away, scrolling through the list of things on his smartphone. Oikawa finished his tea and stood up to pay for his food. He motioned to her finished dinner. "I'm paying for this, okay."

Before she could protest, he had already strode his way through the other customers and paid the bill. The shop owner said something to him, and she tilted her head to the side when the middle-aged man motioned towards her. Oikawa gave the shop owner his usual charming smile and laughed a bit before he made his way back to her.

His smile was still there when he stopped at their table. "Alright, done. Let's go."

She blinked, and as she followed him through the exit she jogged a little to catch up to his long strides. He noticed that and slowed his steps for her. "What did that ojii-san say?"

He cleared his throat to mask his embarrassment. "Nothing, really. Just something."

Hitoka blinked, and tugged onto his sleeve. She got his attention, and he nearly regretted turning towards her when he noticed she was standing quite close to him since the weather was getting a little cold recently. The street was a little bit dark, and the sidewalk lamps cast a shadow over the top of her face. He could only see her lips, and the slight tint of peach from her lip balm.

He hated that thing. He would always end up looking at her lips more than often.

"What is it?"

She was smiling. "It must be something funny though. I haven't seen you laugh for a while."

Oikawa scolded the growing thump in his heart. _'Don't get strange ideas, you. She's just being her oblivious self, as always. She doesn't even know what she does to you.'_

"Maybe because you've been avoiding me."

It was his turn to smile at her when she blushed a little and pouted. "W-Well, sorry about that. I really am you know."

They stopped at the red light, and watched silently as cars whizzed past. "This wasn't the first time you heard that kind of rumor, and you never avoided me. What made it so different this time?"

She sheepishly smiled, a hand scratching her cheek. "I don't know myself. I mean, somehow when professor said that she gave you that mark I felt a little jealous, you know. Because I've been with you for quite a while and I still can't hold your hand without feeling all funny inside."

He could feel his brows rising. He didn't know if he was dreaming but somehow that sounded a lot like a confession. He opted to grin cheekily to mask the hope bubbling inside him. "Eh? What's this, Yacchan? You have a thing for me don'cha."

The pedestrian light turned green, and as they crossed the road, Hitoka held onto his sleeve as if it was second nature. She looked to have been deep in thought and he was starting to think he had said something wrong. But then she looked up to him, her cheeks a little pink for a reason he was a little bit curious about. Only a little.

"Did you know that after the rumors started, the girls around me started talking about how they'd like to go out with you too. At first I really thought nothing of it… but well, when I thought about it, couples go out and kiss, right? So whenever I happened to see you I'd always think of how you'd be a loving couple with someone I don't know, that someday you'll kiss them… and I'll end up feeling very sad."

The moment she said that, they were already in front of Fukurou Complex.

Instead of going in, they stayed rooted at their spot. Oikawa was staring at her, mouth agape and speechless. When he noticed how Hitoka was looking at everything else around them but him, and the blush on her cheeks, he coughed into his fist to try and get his bearings straight.

"Do you realize what you just said, Yacchan?" He silently asked, eyes peeking up to look her. She was currently staring at her toes, bangs covering her eyes. Taking a big breath, he mustered enough courage to gently place his hands on her narrow shoulders. "What do you mean by that? Spell it out for me please. Because you see, I need to make sure you're not just messing with me."

She finally looked up into his eyes, and he knew then that all the years hoping in silence had been worth it when she smiled up at him, her lips a bit wobbly and her eyes unsure. "I think... I've just noticed how much I've fallen for you. So much so it's kind of scaring me."

He swallowed, hard. "I'm not dreaming now, am I? Because I really _really_ like you and I won't know what to do if this is just a dream."

Hitoka looked surprised at how honest he was, and she ended up giggling when she noticed how ridiculous she was being. What was there to be scared about when it came to her true feelings? She held his face in her small hands and nodded. This time with conviction. "Do you want me to pinch you, Oikawa-san?"

He laughed at her offer, and she laughed along until they both stopped to take a breather. She was wiping off the tears on the corner of her eyes when he used a hand to cup her face, the mirth in his eyes never fading.

"Instead of pinching me, can I do something else?"

She blinked. "Eh? What is it?"

He looped an arm around her waist to pull her flush against his body, and he grinned when she gasped at the sudden closeness. His victorious smirk was the last thing she saw before he swooped down to kiss her fully on the lips. From somewhere behind them, an old woman chuckled at the new couple.

"Oh my, you ought to find a room, son."

She had her eyes closed as he deepened the kiss, but could still feel him hold up a hand behind her. From the way the old woman's chuckles became full-blown laughter, she guessed he probably gestured a thumbs up. 

* * *

" _Hey son, ya like her don'cha?"_

 _Smile. "You knew?"  
_

 _A grin and a thumbs up. "Been looking at you two since forever, bud. Don't give up, yeah. I can tell that she likes ya too."_

 _He laughed, because he surely hoped so._

* * *

Tōru Oikawa was very much liked by a lot of people and was hated as much by others. Rumors were second nature to his existence. Recently, there were rumors of him dating his childhood friend from the arts department. Another rumor was that they were going steady, and that she was going to move in with him when she would finish grad school. However, it was starting to feel like the rumors were true after all.

One had to be blind to not see the similar promise rings on their right hands.

As he watched the way his brown-haired friend looked down at the small figure, and the slight blush on her cheeks as she smiled up at him, Iwaizumi could definitely say that rumor or not, what was important was that they were finally together. The only thing he was worrying about was how annoying Oikawa would be for the two years he was going to have to wait until Hitoka would finally move in with him.


	10. Chapter 10

**Yabai Koi Series**

 **A/N: Hi! I decided to write up another AU. I'll be writing this one in separate parts instead of one long entry. Just because, hihi. Hope you enjoy this one.  
**

* * *

 **#10:** She wondered what it would have felt like to be the same age as him.

"I'm sorry?"

Kyoko sighed softly as she glanced at the woman next to her, the crystal glass clinking as she placed her whiskey down onto the bar. She asked again, knowing that her friend had heard her the first time but couldn't quite wrap her head around it. "I said, doesn't that mean you're interested in him?"

Her full red lips kicked up a notch into one of her rare mischievous smirk when she studied her friend's reaction. She never got bored from watching Hitoka's face turn red in a matter of seconds.

"I don't- I'm not… wha- I mean… I'm a _teacher_ , Kyoko-senpai! I'm _his_ teacher!"

An elegant dark brow rose as the older of the two shrugged a shoulder. "So? He's still a man, regardless of age."

Hitoka shook her head, and downed the rest of her Martini in a single gulp, regretting it a second later. The frown on her forehead deepened considerably when she thought of the situation. "But I'm a teacher. I'm supposed to be teaching at that school, not get myself tangled in a relationship that's frowned upon in society." She worried her lips at the mere thought of it.

"Oh? Relationship?"

"Yes. That."

Kyoko tugged a strand of hair behind her ear, revealing the thin silver necklace her boyfriend gave her a year ago, and playfully nudged her former high school junior with her elbow. "I didn't say anything about a relationship, Hitoka-chan. But if that's what you want then…" she gave another shrug as she left her words hanging.

That was enough to make Hitoka burn up again. The poor student teacher buried her face in her small hands, embarrassed beyond repair. "I-I didn't mean that! Aw geez! Senpai! Stop teasing me! You know what I mean. I just can't…" She bit her bottom lip, and looked like she was about to cry. "I can't fall for a student." She finished her words quietly, meekly.

They stayed silent for a while, Kyoko letting Hitoka cool down for a few moments before she pulled her friend in a side hug. "I'm sorry… it's just that you're too gullible I can't help it."

"Hm… okay… but what should I do? I can't let myself be like this. I think… I think I might need to change schools."

There it was again. She hadn't seen Hitoka reverting back to her teenage ways since she graduated high school; afraid to face things head on and always try to avoid problems. But it seemed that whoever had caught her eye was quite something to be able to make her revert to being her old negative self. Hitoka might deny it but Kyoko had a feeling that this time it was a matter with a little more weight than she originally thought it was.

"You don't have to. Come on, you won't be seeing him every day, right? You're still a student teacher. You're gonna finish your training in no time and end up teaching a different school." She turned to Hitoka, trying to make her feel a little less worried. "And you're teaching chemistry. They can't be learning chemistry the whole time."

"Well, they don't…"

Kyoko sensed a 'but' there.

Hitoka twiddled her thumbs when she peeked up to look at her friend, "…but I'm his club advisor."

"…Okay."

"Why were you hesitating, senpai?"

She shook her head a little. "No it's just that for Seijoh to need to use a student teacher to be a club advisor… then that means they're short on people huh. So what does he play?"

She didn't miss the sudden jump in the younger woman's shoulders, and couldn't help feeling worried for Hitoka. The student teacher was still twisting her fingers, her cheeks suddenly coloring a faint shade of red, before she squeaked out, "…volleyball."

She blinked, and for a second couldn't form a word when she looked at Hitoka.

"Well that… doesn't sound so good." In fact, things would be a bit harder than she thought.

The blush on Hitoka's cheeks turned darker, so she buried her face in her hands again. Kyoko knew for sure it wasn't the alcohol that made the petite teacher red in the face. If anything, it was the fact that the high schooler who caught her attention played volleyball. It was a known fact to anyone who knew the young woman, that she was crazy for volleyball since her first year of high school. What are the odds, huh.

"So um… what do you think I should do?"

Resignation poured on her as she shrugged again, downing her second shot like it was nothing. "Just go out with him."

"But I told you, it's impossible! I'm a teacher so I need to maintain a professional relationship. Besides, even if he's not a student, there'd be no way he'd look at a person like me." Without realizing it, her lips pouted when she thought of that fact. Frustrated, she called for another martini. It was actually her first time drinking, and she shouldn't have picked that particular day as well since the next day was school day. But she couldn't resist the temptation of using alcohol as an excuse for her asking Kyoko about her love life.

Kyoko's warm hand gently squeezed her shoulder, "Don't say things like that. You're a great person, don't put yourself down." She decided against calling it quits, so she asked for another shot. "You came to me today asking about a boy, don't you back out now after saying this and that about him. Is he even _that_ charming anyway?"

She chanced a sideward glance at her friend. Hitoka was silently sipping on her drink, then as she carefully put it down, a little smile adorned her slightly flushed face. "He kinda is, you know. I mean, he's a really good player. And he studies well, too. It's too bad the school's not that supportive of the volleyball club, because he's talented I'm sure the team would win a lot of games if they were given the chance."

Kyoko chuckled. "That kinda sounds like our school back then."

Hitoka laughed as well. "Yeah, kinda."

"Hitoka-chan,"

"hm?"

"Just go and confess already."

* * *

Hitoka hadn't known that she didn't have hangovers. If she had then she would've drank a lot more the night before. But her mouth still felt dry even after chugging down a gallon of water before coming to school. Even then, as she watched the boys play against the visiting school for practice, she was still sipping water from her trusted bottle.

She made another circle in the test pad clipped to her red clipboard, recording the number of points when Oikawa managed to score the last point for the first set with his serve alone. A smile lit up her face when his teammates patted him on the back, congratulating him. "Good serve, Oikawa-kun!" She called out of habit.

He turned to her, remnants of his smile still there when he nodded to her. She couldn't stop the sudden jump in her heart when he did that. Then she realized she must have reacted a little too childishly, and quickly looked down to her clipboard, her face heating up.

She looked back up just in time to see the managers pass the cooled towels for the players, and noticed one of the girls affectionately drying the sweat on his forehead using an extra towel. He was pouting a little, and the girl giggled at something he said, and for a moment Hitoka wished she was born a few years later. During her high school years she had been a manager herself, but she was too busy and preoccupied with club activities to even notice other boys her age. Thinking back on it, she envied the girls who came to cheer on the boys in her club. At the very least they were able to show their feelings properly.

Unlike herself. Even if she wanted to, people would look at her weird.

Some of the boys were teasing the girl and Oikawa. He turned a deaf ear as he went to talk with one of the players from the visiting school, but the girl was giggling, happy for being the center of attention.

Hitoka sighed softly. How brazen of that girl. She kind of admired that.

"Yachi, come 'ere a bit." The coach motioned for her to come help him with a player who pulled a muscle, and distractedly she went to his side. The boy sheepishly thanked her as she started to massage his calf, and she nodded a little, still thinking how good it would be to be the same age as the girls.

"Take care of yourself better, alright? We don't want you guys to injure yourselves when the spring prelims are just around the corner."

He nodded shyly, and proceeded to rest at a corner of the gym with a few of the benchwarmers. The second set was already starting, so she stood to the side, clipboard in her arms. The coach, a man in his thirties, stood next to her. "You're quite confident they're going to the prelims, huh."

She dropped her clipboard when she avoided a stray ball darting her way, and smiled up at the older man. "Yep. I told you, didn't I? I managed to convince the Vice-principle that the boys are gonna make it through the preliminaries since they're talented."

The man snorted as he straightened the nametag that read 'Mizoguchi' on his jersey. "They're a bunch of talented brats alright. But it's been a few years since the school sent our boys out to matches. How did you manage that?" The wide grin she gave made him raise a brow. "Don't tell me-"

She held up an 'ok' sign. "Let's just say dogeza works a long way when you know where to use it."

Mizoguchi laughed out until tears gathered in the corners of his eyes. "Man…" He breathed out a sigh, shaking his head while the bits of laughter still remained. "The former advisor gave up ages ago, and here you come and suddenly our boys have their schedules packed with practice matches. And even an official tournament to prepare for." He motioned for a fist bump, and she complied, laughing a little when her small fist awkwardly collided with his larger one. "I thought you were just some boring replacement. Sorry 'bout that."

Hitoka circled the paper for another score. "Well, I just can't let talent go to waste. The same thing happened to my old school, but we pulled through. And now Karasuno's well-known all over town. Besides, Mizoguchi-san," She looked up at him and held up a thumbs up, "You didn't give up on them either, right?"

"Of course. The old man would chew me up for abandoning this school, after all he's done."

"Old man? Do you mean the former coach?"

"Yep. Oh, Oikawa messed up in his serve." He yelled at Oikawa and the others, and walked nearer to the side of the net to call for a timeout.

Hitoka watched silently as Mizoguchi smacked the boys on their head for a mistake they did a while ago on the court. He turned to Oikawa to ask about his blunder, who merely shrugged and gave one of his witty replies, which earned him a noogie. She covered her mouth to hide her giggles at the way the coach and the players fooled around comfortably. As they filed back into the court, she called out to them. "It's okay! You guys were doing well!"

They thanked her, and before the match resumed, she caught Oikawa's eyes. She could feel her cheeks warm up for a moment, before she held up her fist and mouthed 'Fight-oh!' He blinked at first, and for a second Hitoka felt embarrassed for doing something so childish. But then he smiled back and nodded at her.

When he started to move around again on the court, Hitoka forgot all about the scoreboard.

* * *

She yawned for the nth time as she walked past the school gates, clad in her pair of jersey wear. The game ended a little later than she expected. The boys won the match, and it was a good start to prepare them for the coming Spring Tournament. They even managed to squeeze the boys into a week-long training camp with the visiting school. Watching their grins and excited faces was worth her tired legs. To thank her efforts, the boys had promised to score above-average marks for their coming exams so that they could all train together without her having to worry of the ones left behind.

Hitoka wished she would be there long enough to see them make it to the finals, but that wasn't going to happen. She wondered how she'd break the news to them. She wondered what she would do about her feelings for Oikawa. The third year setter was popular with the girls, even outsiders knew about him. He probably wouldn't take her confession seriously if she were to tell him.

She sighed. Maybe it was best for her to forget about him.

Remembering she needed milk, she made her way to the convenience store nearest to her apartment. Just as she checked out her items, her plastic bag filled with a lot more stuff other than milk, she heard a very familiar voice calling out to her.

"Sensei?"

Her eyes widened as she turned around to see Oikawa, still in his jersey and shorts. He grinned as she looked at him confusedly. "Oikawa-kun? Why are you here?"

He walked up to HItoka and took the heavy plastic bag from her. "I live here. A few block down this store. But I've never seen you here, Yachi-sensei." She sheepishly thanked him. "I always stop here for some stuff. It's really weird, because I haven't seen you either. I live near here as well. At the apartment complex near the main street."

They started to walk towards the main street. Hitoka fiddled with her thumbs, trying to think of something to say. He beat her to it. "Coach told us that you pulled a lot of strings for us to be able to join that tournament."

Hearing the mention of the tournament, her face immediately lit up. "Oh, I didn't do much, really! I just wanted you guys to play in the tournament so I just did what I could." She tilted her head a little to the side, smiling a little more. "You practiced a lot for that tournament, didn't you? And the others too. I think it's a waste not to show what you're capable of."

Oikawa smiled back. "Thank you for that. I thought the teachers have given up on us." She nodded enthusiastically. "Not _all_ teachers have given up, you know. This is just my job, I'm a teacher after all."

They were waiting to cross the road, when she finally noticed that he had been holding her stuff all the while she walked home. "Oh, I'm so sorry! I can carry my things, you must have wanted to go back home. Gosh, I'm such an airhead." She was about to reach for the plastic bag when he took her hand in his free one instead and led her across the street. "O-Oikawa-kun? Um… my… my things are…"

When they had crossed safely to the front of her apartment building, he raised a brow while holding up her stuff in one hand. "Do you think I'd leave you to walk alone holding all these stuff, sensei?" She blinked, not knowing what to say to that, and came up with a meek, "Um… yes?"

The easy smile he had on his face dropped, and he looked like he was done with her. "Really, sensei. What kind of man do you think I am?" She blushed when she realized she must have offended him. "I didn't mean to upset you. Gosh, I'm so sorry. And here you are going out of your way to help me."

She was fretting over herself, and a few seconds later she managed to calm down and thanked him for his help.

He finally gave her stuff back. "But I wasn't going out of my way or anything like that." She looked up at him, and blushed again when she noticed how tall he actually was when he was standing really close to her. She stepped back a few, not knowing what else to say but not wanting to just go home yet. She still wanted to talk to him.

She dug around in the plastic bag, and pulled out a small bottle of milk. She extended it to him, "Here." He blinked at the offered bottle before finally taking it. "Thank you." He couldn't help himself and ended up chuckling at her antics. "You're really something else, _Yacchan_ -sensei."

Hitoka blinked at the nickname. "Yacchan?" Oikawa was already chugging down the milk. He tossed the bottle into the trashcan just a few feet away. "Everyone's calling you that. Isn't that neat?"

She frowned as she held her chin. "That's not good… not really. I mean, I'm not supposed to be too friendly with the students." He shrugged, "So? I don't think it's a bad thing for teachers to be close to students."

Hitoka could feel herself heat up at his last comment. She was sure he didn't mean anything more than that, but it hit her like a freight train. She cleared her throat. "Y-yeah but… I need to be the kind of teacher that my students can look up to. If they start to treat me like a friend then doesn't that beat the purpose?" She looked up from staring a hole into the pavement just in time to see Oikawa walk up to her. He was sporting a smile that she found very hard to look away from. "You're fine just the way you are, Yachi-sensei."

Somehow hearing him call her Yachi caused even more damage to her heart than the playful Yacchan. She shook her head, unaware of how he was watching her amusedly. "Well, thank you for that. You, too, are fine just the way you are." His smile turned to a grin.

She didn't know how it was possible for someone four years younger than her to look so cheeky yet charming at the same time.

Just seeing the mirth in his eyes and the dimples on his cheeks when he smiled that smile of his made her forget that she was a teacher. It made her think of the fact that she was hopelessly head over heels in this boy that probably had no idea of her feelings for him. It made her, an adult, jealous of the manager who had been openly flirting with him a few hours ago.

"I like you."

She realized a bit too late that she had accidentally said that out loud when she saw the change in his facial expression.

"Eh?"

* * *

A/N: I know. You're probably hating on me right now, huh. XD

Dogeza = it means to grovel.


	11. Chapter 11

**Yabai Koi Series**

 **A/N: Come on, now. I'm not** _ **that**_ **cruel. But I'd like to try sometimes. Did it work? :3  
**

* * *

 **#11:** He wondered if she had ever seen him as a man.

Groaning, he arched his back, threw his fists into the air, and stretched with all his might. The sweet relief of having heard the popping sounds dribbling down his back sent shivers surging through his arms. They plopped back into place as he stifled a yawn. It was Saturday morning, no club practice like the usual weekend mornings since the Girls' volleyball club got to it first. So he decided he'd do some studying since his sister wasn't there to pester him about babysitting his nephew and niece. He loved the twins to bits, but he really needed some time for himself. Now that he had time for himself, he was left with virtually nothing to do. So yeah, he decided he'd study. Not because he was a model student and so it was a given he'd spend his free time studying (he wasn't that much of a good student anyway), but he had nothing else to do.

His eyelids were heavy. His shoulders were heavy. His brain was heavy. Everything weighed a ton, especially as he attempted to inspect this textbook that lay splayed on the table. He tapped the hardwood of the table top with his pen, and proceeded to take another sip of the Americano he put at the corner. His stuck out his tongue, not at all pleased to taste the drink, made tepid by the melted ice cubes. "Blegh."

With the light spring warmth bearing down on his shoulders, the brilliant sun grinning above, and the birds rejoicing in the sprouting trees, the Chemistry material was dismal. The golden rays that splashed across the table and the book made it look cheery but he knew better. It wasn't boring, but he wouldn't go as far as to say it was fun either. That thought though, didn't seem to hinder him from getting good grades. He snorted at the realization. No wonder Mattsun hated him for that.

"Sorry, bud. But I guess I'm just too much of a genius." He swiveled around in his chair and found a stray dart. Picking it up, he threw the dart just for it to embed itself a little ways off the bull's eye. Well, at least he was bad at something.

He was mindlessly turning around in his trusted chair, when his dark gaze found its mournful way to the pair of knee pads he used for practice. It was still relatively new, since he just received them. In fact the whole fifteen members of the club got a pair each, since it was a gift from their new club advisor.

Yachi-sensei. Age twenty-two, would be graduating in a year, stood at most five foot seven. A petite teacher with short light brown hair and big brown eyes. It had only been nine weeks since she began her work there and became the club advisor, and yet she had brought so much energy with her whenever she went. Her presence at the club was like a whirlwind, storming through the boys' life and deciding that they all were too good to be cooped up playing practice matches until the end of year. It was still surreal how their typical after-school club activities changed during her second week there. They were finally moving forward with practice matches. Not just mindless practice, but with the promise of finally, after how many years, a chance to join a major tournament. It had been a few more weeks after that when she suddenly lugged a huge bag and gave them new knee pads as a good luck gift.

He couldn't help the little kick in his lips when she had stumbled through the double doors, her face flushing of excitement. "I managed to snag a sponsor!" She had practically bounced around as she gave them the knee pads and took down their measurements for brand new jerseys with the sponsor's logo attached. The first years were ecstatic, Coach Mizoguchi had been as excited as her as well. Her enthusiasm and her energy had been infectious, and he found himself looking forward to the tournament. He found himself trying harder during practice.

She hadn't even been there for a long time and yet the students affectionately called her Yacchan-sensei. Whether she was aware of how popular she actually was among the students, he was sure she had no inkling about it. She wouldn't be the oblivious teacher she was if she knew.

She was cute that way.

He sighed heavily as he decided to lie down in his bed instead.

If he was honest with himself, she wasn't even his type of girl to begin with. Up until a few weeks ago his type had always been the daring girls, the ones who strutted around school all preened and pretty. The first day Yachi introduced herself as the replacement Chemistry Teacher and a trainee teacher, he immediately became uninterested in her. She had appeared to be the straight-laced type. Someone who was a stickler for rules. Plus, she was older than him. He didn't dig that.

But somehow along the days, she had proved to be more than just a boring woman. It was probably the fact that she loved arts and craft, but her classes were never boring. She was just a replacement teacher, a trainee, not even a real teacher, but seeing her trying her best in class and during club hours lit something in him. It made him realize that she was far different than his initial impression of her. She even became a little cuter in his eyes. But she was still far from being his type of woman.

It wasn't until one day he found her in a sports store staring through an assortment of sports shoes, clad in her pink Hello Kitty hoodie, looking way younger than her actual age. He hadn't expected to bump into her at the same outlet, and he hadn't expected at all to see her in such an outfit. But then again, he had only seen her in button down shirts and a pencil skirt. Actually there were times when he'd find her quite cute in her black and white pair of jersey and long pants.

She hadn't noticed him for the first few seconds, until she looked around to ask for some assistance for what she wanted. Her face had brightened up at the sight of him. He remembered her asking for his opinion on what would a college student like for a present, and she had gone on a long explanation about how her best friend wanted to buy a present for her boyfriend but couldn't find the time to do the shopping so she asked Yachi to help out.

He ended up helping her with that and somehow they exchanged numbers. Later at night she had texted him that the boyfriend really liked the shoes. He remembered smiling to himself, not because she thanked him or anything, but he was suddenly reminded of the pointy ears that stood up on her head when she had pulled her hood up to cover her head from the light drizzle on her way back to the train station. She looked adorable when she hugged her purchase close to her chest, fretting if her friend would like it. "But I believe that everything would be fine since Oikawa-kun helped me." The trusting smile she gave him at that moment was probably what made him start to really look at her.

He also remembered that minutes after she texted him about the shoes, she texted him again saying that she apologized for exchanging numbers without asking him about it first, and that she would delete his number since it was unprofessional of her as a teacher to keep a student's number.

He decided that he'd keep her number anyways.

* * *

"Are you serious, Trashykawa?"

His brow twitched at the tone Iwaizumi was taking on him, but he didn't deny his friend. "No, Iwa-chan. I'm just playing around here."

He was holding his niece and Iwaizumi was holding onto her twin brother, both asleep in their arms as they played Jenga. One moment they were focusing on the game, and the next suddenly they were talking about how Oikawa found Yachi-sensei to be kind-of sort-of cute.

"Hey man, we're talking about you having a crush on our teacher. How can that not be serious."

Oikawa had the tip of his tongue stuck out as he concentrated on pulling out a block, and sighed in relief when he managed to clear his round. "No one said it was a crush. I just find her interesting."

"Huh," his friend could help the little snort as he browsed for another block to take out before he continued, "As if I could believe you." He bit down on his bottom lip, and with trembling hands, managed to clear his round. "Your turn."

Silently, he watched the brown-haired setter carefully slide out a block, millimeter by millimeter. He was awfully serious for a simple game, but that was what made Oikawa a formidable opponent in everything. The guy was a little bit too talented, and Iwaizumi couldn't resist spoiling that talent. So he decided to drop a bomb when his friend least expected it. "Ya think she has a boyfriend?"

Oikawa was so caught off-guard he accidentally knocked over the blocks, earning himself a loss. He shot Iwaizumi a dirty look as his friend smugly took away his pudding as compensation. "That was low, Iwa-chan. Surprising me like that."

The reply he got was an eye roll. As he silently watched Iwaizumi eat the pudding, he decided he should tuck the kids to bed. As he tucked the blanket up to his nephew's chin, he thought about his affection to the ever-cheerful club advisor. He didn't know about love, but he was sure he had some sort of fondness for her. Like how his chest warmed up at her laughter, how his heart skipped a beat when she would come running to him excitedly to show her clipboard full of circles and his aversion to tease her whenever he could just to hear her stutter and see her cheeks blush.

He never really thought about someone else having the same fondness he had toward her. Or he just did not want to think of it.

He joined Iwaizumi at the living room, and plopped onto the couch. He was studying the veins on the ceiling when he finally answered. "Do you think she has one?"

"What?"

"A boyfriend. Or something like one."

He could imagine the smirk and the upturned brow on Iwaizumi's face. "I don't know about a boyfriend, but it's not weird if someone else also has an interest in her. I mean, _you_ like her. So I guess there's probably another person out there that likes her even more than you do."

"Hm…"

"Oi, Shittykawa."

He rolled to his side, his back to his friend. "What?"

"Do you really like her? I mean, it's okay you know."

Confused, he turned around to look at a nonchalant-looking Iwaizumi picking at the bits of pudding. "Whaddya mean?"

"It's okay if you have a crush on a teacher. We're all teenagers, it's common for students to have a crush on a teacher or two. You'll think nothing about it when you find a nice girl your age."

For the first time since a long time, he could feel his ears warm up. "I don't know about that." He felt his friend squeeze his shoulder in a comforting gesture. "And why's that?" He scratched the back of his head as he quietly admitted it. "I don't know if I'll ever like another person like that. I mean, she wasn't even my type in the first place. And then suddenly she's…"

Iwaizumi could feel his black brows rise. "She's what?"

"Suddenly she's just there. I can only see her, it's kinda weird."

If that was weird, then Iwaizumi thought that his friend was even weirder. He had never seen his friend like this, and honestly he was kind of secretly enjoying it. "Look at you… that's not weird at all. You like someone, so your eyes follow her. Simple as that."

"I'm still eighteen. I don't know if this is even right anymore."

That got out a hearty laughter from his friend, and he rolled over to look irritably at Iwaizumi as he rolled around the floor. "Oi, I'm serious here." Snickers still bubbling from his mouth, he put up his hands. "Okay, sorry. Come on, man. I don't know how to say this but… I think you shouldn't think about this too much. You see, just because you're younger than her that doesn't mean you're not capable of feeling such things."

"I lost you there, Iwa-chan."

"I mean, it's not as if you're thinking of getting married to her or anything, right?"

It was sudden, but the mention of marriage triggered this image inside Oikawa's head. An image of Yachi-sensei in a white wedding dress, and her bright eyes looking up at him through her long lashes.

He reached for a cushion and used it to cover his face, feigning sleep.

"I hate you Iwa-chan."

* * *

She was entering her tenth week of training, and he could see the toll it was taking on her when she fell asleep in a corner of the gym. She had been reading some papers regarding their upcoming matches and probably didn't notice she had nodded off. No one really wanted to wake her up when they noticed the dark circles under her eyes, and so they left her to rest until the coach dismissed them for that morning. He had strolled to her spot, and sitting on his haunches, he silently watched the rise and fall of her chest as she breathed. A few strands of hair had fallen over her eyes, and he itched to tug them behind her ears and feel her smooth cheek on his knuckles, but he refrained. He looked behind him, wary of anyone catching him looking at her, and breathed out in relief that he wasn't caught. Caught doing what, he didn't know exactly, but he was trying not to look too interested in her. Just because.

Deciding that he should better wake her up already so she could prepare for classes, although he didn't want to, he gently tapped her shoulder. Instead of bolting upright, her head lolled to the side and bumped into his hand. He felt himself feel warm and fuzzy when she stirred a little, rubbing her face into the back of his hand. That was until he felt the heat she was giving off in waves.

"Sensei? Sensei, are you okay?" He then noticed the frown on her face, before her eyes fluttered open. Groggily, she grinned up at him. "Oh, I see an angel."

He could swear his ears burned, but he opted to clear his throat and get a hold of himself. Turning around to the others, he called out to the managers to tell them that Yachi-sensei had a fever and that they might need to help. He turned back to see her awake, but not fully coming around to it just yet. She frowned a little as she looked up into his face, and then belatedly noticing she had said something embarrassing, her cheeks flushed even harder. "I-I'm so-sorry…uhm." She tried to stand up, but her legs gave out.

"My legs feel like jelly…" she whined a little, her frown deepening and her eyes glazed with unshed tears. She looked like a little kid that moment.

"Come on, I'll help you up." He slung her arm over him shoulder, and attempted to help her stand up. She groaned a little when the headaches started, and instead of standing up, she was leaning into him. He swallowed at the feel of her soft body pressed against his, and after he inwardly reprimanded himself for thinking of lewd thoughts, he decided it was better if he gave her a piggy back instead. He could see the ghost of a smirk on Iwaizumi's face, and decided he ought to talk to him later about all this. Mizoguchi offered to help carry her, but Yachi was too tired and her body ached so much, so they didn't want to make her even more uncomfortable by jostling her around too much.

"I'll inform the staff room then. Okay boys, finish cleaning up as soon as possible and don't skip out on any of your classes, aite?"

"Yessir!"

The club members called out for Yachi-sensei to rest well, and as she disappeared from the gym, they started to clean the place like mad.

It didn't take them more than ten minutes to get to the infirmary, and as the managers helped settle Yachi into a bed, she still managed to thank Oikawa and apologize to the students for collapsing all of the sudden. He watched by the sidelines as the nurse gave her some pills and toweled her face with a cooled towel. The red flush on her cheeks suddenly looked even more obvious than it had been during morning practice. She fell asleep as soon as they pulled the drapes to cover her bed.

"She probably worked a little bit too hard, that Yachi. She's gonna be fine, Oikawa-kun. Though she might not be able to come to school for a day or two."

* * *

He would normally go to the cafeteria during lunch break, but instead he bought some bread and two boxes of milk, promptly going to the infirmary to check up on Yachi-sensei. The nurse had gone out for the moment so it was only the young teacher in the room. And him. He slowly made his way to the drapes, and called to her. She replied with a weak, "yes, I'm here." Before she pulled away the drapes surrounding her.

"Oh Oikawa-kun! Hello." Her pale lips turned up into a smile, as if she wasn't sick in bed at all. He half-smiled and took a seat next to her. "Geez, sensei. Learn to let up a little, you're not Iron Man or something. Bread?" Her tired eyes brightened up at the sight of food, and she embarrassedly accepted his offer of bread and milk. The half moons her eyes made decorated her otherwise exhausted face as she munched happily of the melon bread. She was slurping onto the milk, when she remembered to say something.

"Oh, but I prefer Wonder Woman."

He couldn't help but laugh at that. "Whatever, you're not a superhero. You got us worried back there ya know." She grinned guiltily and twiddled her thumbs. "Sorry for that. But I was so excited about the tournament, I almost forgot I was teaching three classes. I stayed up the last two days marking papers. Oh, Oikawa-kun, your grades increased again, did you know that?"

At that moment he didn't know what frustrated him more. The fact that she was disregarding her health, or the fact that it seemed as if she was brushing him off. She probably didn't mean it, but she could try to be a little conscious of him. Especially since they were both in close proximity.

Now that he thought about it, he had never been this close to her. He noticed that her hair was made up of different shades of brown, and how her small canine tooth peeked out whenever she bit her bottom lip. She licked the droplet of milk from her lips then, and was taking about something that went completely over his head. His eyes dropped to those pale lips, and he remembered them being pink and healthy the day before. The sudden urge to kiss her bubbled inside him, he had to think of something else to hold himself back.

"The periodic table." He blurted out. She tilted her head to look at him. "I'm sorry?"

He blinked, slowly at first. Then he realized he'd said that out loud. He grinned a little. "I suddenly thought about the periodic table." He was glad he was the type to quickly recover and excellent at cover-ups.

Yachi-sensei, being none the wiser, grinned back, albeit a little tiredly. "You're funny, Oikawa-kun."

' _Boroncarbonnitrogenoxygenfluorineneonsodiummagnesiumaluminum,'_

He gently poked her head, keeping that small grin on him when she blinked. "No I'm not. Come on, rest more." From a distance they heard the bell ring, signaling lunch break was over. She looked up at him. "You're not going to skip classes, right?"

' _Siliconephosphorussulphurchlorineargon…'_

"Oi oi. I'm supposed to be a model student, remember?" She giggled, as if it was that funny. It wasn't, really. But she was cute so he didn't mind.

' _GODDAMNpotassium.'_

"Okay. Thank you again, Oikawa-kun." He nodded at her, and she made herself comfortable in the bed. A few seconds later, she was dozing off, her soft-looking lips parted. He didn't miss her reddened cheeks, and gently he brushed his knuckles over them.

A heavy sigh escaped his lips as he watched her sleep without any inhibition. If anything, she looked comfortable enough having him there. Trusting him.

As if she forgot that he was also a man in his own right.

"You are so clueless, aren't you." His fingertips ghosted over her parted lips. Class was probably starting already, and he really ought to hurry back. But he didn't want to. Not when he could look at her acting like a child, for once.

She must have been dreaming about something bad when she suddenly stirred in her sleep. The frown marring her forehead getting deeper, beads of sweat started to gather as she continued to stir. It hadn't even been ten minutes and she was already having nightmares. He swallowed a little, and hesitated for a bit, before he used his fingertips to gently ease the furrow. Slowly the frown disappeared, and she let out a sigh as she settled back into sleep. He felt himself smile a little at her antics, and unthinkingly he kissed her on the lips. Gentle enough not to wake her, but firm enough to feel her soft lips against his own.

* * *

It had been a week since her collapse, and now Yachi-sensei was back in action. She was even vibrant than he remembered her to be. Not that he was complaining though.

That day they had another practice match with another school. If he was correct, Yachi-sensei graduated from the very same school. He heard about the players before, and knew that the guys were really good players. He also heard about their two coaches. Ukai was a well-known family name. It wasn't a surprise to see the grandson succeeding the old man. The other coach was also a former student at Karasuno. He was, in fact, part of the regular players and a former setter as well. Just like himself. Sugawara or something. The guy was a refreshing kind of guy, but he somehow had this suspicion that the young coach had this air about him that was cunning.

"I guess it's true, huh. Yachi-sensei sure looks like she knew Sugawara-san." He turned to look at Iwaizumi as the spiky-haired player stood next to him. "They look kinda close, huh." Oikawa bounced the ball in his hands to get the feel of it. He gave a noncommittal reply, not really interested and not really knowing why.

"So what if she knew him? They were schoolmates after all. Rather, can you help me for a bit? I need to get my timing down."

Iwaizumi raised a brow at Oikawa's sudden sullen air. He shrugged a little and proceeded to help his friend. After a few minutes warming up, they got ready to start the practice match. The first set went by smoothly. The visiting players were good, but they too have practiced a lot. Despite seeing how Yachi-sensei was visibly comfortable with Sugawara-san, his body felt really light. He could hear the cheers from the managers, and some of the girls from other classes, but above all, he could hear her voice from the sidelines. The wide smile and her flushed cheeks from all the excitement was contagious, and he managed to finish the first set with his serve alone.

He heard a whistle from Sugawara, and couldn't help but feel a tad bit smug at the impressed look the young coach gave him.

"Good serve, Oikawa-kun!" She was ecstatic at their progress, and he had the sudden urge to continue to do well if it meant hearing her call out to him like that.

He nodded at her, and her smile widened. All of a sudden her cheeks became flushed and she quickly looked down at her clipboard. The managers handed out the cooled towels, and he grumbled as one of them started to flirt with him. The guys could tease him about it, but he wasn't interested at all. Not if it wasn't Yachi-sensei.

That thought came in so suddenly, so he had no choice but to find a diversion to get his mind off it. Not until the match was over. His eyes landed on the other school's setter, and decided he'd talk about some of the blunders. The guy was more than eager to change some tips from him, and even called out to Sugawara-san for some added advice. Oikawa didn't really want to but he admitted that the young coach was really perceptive and observant. He wondered if the man noticed him looking over at Yachi.

The second set resumed, and just a few minutes into it, a guy from his team pulled a muscle when he tried to reach a ball and did a misstep. They brought in another guy, and all was dandy until suddenly they made some silly mistakes. After missing a few points Oikawa finally managed to bring them together, but suddenly he chanced upon Yachi-sensei massaging his underclassman's legs.

Up until then he never knew he could feel jealous.

He envied the boy, but he didn't want to risk himself getting injured either. _'Lucky guy, huh.'_

He missed his next round of serve, even almost hitting Sugawara hadn't the coach dodge in time. His ears pricked when Mizoguchi's voice all but boomed over the whole gym.

"Oi, Oikawa? What was with that sloppy serve hah?"

He shrugged his shoulders, "I can't be scoring all the time, right? I kinda feel sorry for the other team." Apparently Mizoguchi bought that excuse just because he was Oikawa, but at the same time it earned him a noogie. He couldn't help the downturn in his lips at being treated like a kid.

Iwaizumi apparently saw where he had been looking, and smirked over at him. Just before their time-out ran out, he slung an arm over his friend's shoulder. "I know you're jealous, but keep it for next time, yeah."

The reply he got was a pout. Which was common.

"It's okay! You guys were doing well!" The guys thanked her from their positions, and he chanced a look towards her. When she gave that little fist pump and the silent encouragement, his stomach did a backflip right then and there.

She would probably be the death of him.

* * *

He yawned as he made his way back, deciding to stop by the convenience store. The next day would be a weekend and a rest day for their club, so he would be staying up watching some videos of previous matches that night. They had won today's match, just by a hair breadth, but it was still a win. His teammates were happy about that, and she was happy as well. That was a good enough start to get them all fired up for the coming spring tournament. He wouldn't be seeing her until Sunday, so he guessed he could use a little more time to think things through.

He finally came to terms with his feelings. So he liked her. Very much so.

But he wasn't sure where to continue after that. The usual course of action would be to ask her out on a date. But with her it was different. He couldn't just come out and ask her to go out with him. She was a teacher and he was her student. As much as he wanted her, he still had to think about it in her shoes. He scoffed at the mere thought of it. Him? Thinking about being in another person's shoes? He didn't know since when he had changed so much. He had never even thought of things seriously before, he never had the urge to think of others.

He looked up from the pavement just in time to see her dragging a huge bag filled with whatever, and it all became clear to him.

"Sensei?" He didn't realize he had called out to her until she turned to look at him with those big eyes of hers.

He noticed then that her hair had grown since the first time he saw her.

And that her hand must have hurt from holding up that goliath of a bag.

"I always stop here for some stuff. It's really weird, because I haven't seen you either. I live near here as well. At the apartment complex near the main street."

He hadn't known that. Well he shouldn't have known if he had never bumped into her. But it was nice knowing that. If they were to really go out then it'd make it easier for him to come and see her after school hours.

Okay, his train of thought was getting out of hand. He tried to think of something to talk about to get his mind off of trying to ask her out. He remembered Mizoguchi telling the guys to do their best since Yachi-sensei had pulled a lot of favor trying to get them into the tournament. So he asked her about that. Even the mention of the tournament was able to make her eyes brighten up and her face lit up by that smile of hers. She must have really wanted them all to play at least one game, huh.

"You practiced a lot for that tournament, didn't you? And the others too. I think it's a waste not to show what you're capable of."

She had no idea how much they were all thankful to her. They were crossing the road, and he used the opportunity to hold her hand in his, fully realizing for the first time how small they were. Just like her cheeks, her hand was soft he almost didn't want to let her go. She had fretted about the bag, even though he really didn't mind helping her. If he could see her blush and stammer so cutely then he'd be glad to help her.

Yachi-sensei was saying something about how she shouldn't be too close to the student, else they wouldn't respect her as one. So he decided to tell her what he thought. "So? I don't think it's a bad thing for teachers to be close to students."

In other words, he was saying that he wouldn't mind her letting her guard down around him. That he didn't mind her talking with him without the student-teacher barrier holding her back.

But she wouldn't understand that unless he told it straight to her face, now wouldn't she?

"You're fine just the way you are, Yachi-sensei." And he meant that.

"Well, thank you for that. You, too, are fine just the way you are."

He had grinned, but at that moment his insides turned and flipped. How could she just say that to him? Didn't she know what that meant to him?

He wondered if she had ever seen him as a man.

He wondered, and wondered if he would spend his entire life wondering.

His wondering stopped to a screeching halt a few seconds though.

"I like you."

He was sure he was hearing things. Or was he not?

"Eh?" 

* * *

A/N: I know. you're probably DESPISING me. Muwahaha. Thanks for reading though. Please feel free to comment ^^


	12. Chapter 12

**Yabai Koi Series**

 **A/N: Finally, this is the third and last part of this AU. I'm surprised myself that I was able to update as fast as I did. And now I'm dreading it.  
**

* * *

 **#12**

"I like you."

She only realized she had said that out loud when she saw the change in his expression. Surprised eyes looked back at her widened ones, and she could feel her mouth dry up as panic settled in.

"Eh?"

' _He heard me. Oh gosh.'_

"I-I um… U-Um… that is… about you I…"

She was twisting her fingers, already made numb from holding onto the heavy bag with the ridiculous stuff she just bought. Her brain told her to stop herself before she embarrassed herself more, stop while she could still backpedal. But she couldn't, just _couldn't_ stop her mouth from blabbering away.

"I like you, yes you. I mean, I-I know I'm a teacher and I'm supposed to only be teaching you, b-but I went ahead and fell in love with you." His mouth was hanging open at her confession and she could feel her soul escaping her as she went on and on. "I-It wasn't intentional, I wasn't even planning to like you! But you're v-very charming and kind and I can't help myself from liking the way you smile and laugh… oh my god, I'm so sorry if I'm being disgusting, you have every right to hate me." Hitoka felt that knot in the pit of her stomach finally unfurling as she clenched her fists and finished quietly, "You make me feel like I'm a girl, because no one has ever looked at me, but you do. I just… you just… make me feel special." She finished quietly, her voice was barely above a whisper, and she was already on the verge of tears. From a few feet behind her she could hear a high school couple whisper about them.

" _Oh my god, she's confessing! Like seriously!"_

" _Wow, what if she gets rejected?"_

" _SHHH! She can hear you!"_

Yes, she could hear them loud and clear. There wasn't even a point to their whisper-shouting.

Blood rushed to her face, burning her with undue embarrassment. Her mouth opened and closed like a fish out of water, trying to articulate words that her brain couldn't find enough speed to process. When she finally could think for herself, she finished with a meek, "I'm so sorry, just… just forget about what I said."

Her hands trembled as she tied the plastic bag, not knowing what else to do but to ask him forget whatever she said. She could _feel_ him coming closer to her, his shadow from the streetlamp overlapped with hers as he stopped a few inches from her. "Sensei, what did you mean by that?" His voice was an octave lower than what she was used to hearing, and she knew she was in serious trouble.

Hitoka bit her bottom lip, too scared to look up into his face. She was too scared to look at his face, afraid of the disgust that she was sure marring his otherwise perfect face. Letting out a shaky breath, she stepped back a few, distancing herself from him. The big plastic bag was shoved between them to act as a barrier. A barrier to what, she wasn't entirely sure of herself. It was probably more for his sake than hers. She might just lunge at him and kiss him while she still could, and that fleeting thought made her tremble all the more.

She was staring at her toes when she felt something wet drop onto her nape. The sudden coolness of the moisture made her forget all about her previous embarrassment, and that was when she spotted the same droplets wetting the pavement they were standing on. She looked up into his face just in time for the sudden downpour. She jumped at the onslaught of cold rain and promptly forgot about Oikawa who was standing before her, his face a mixture of surprise and confusion.

Using her bag as an umbrella, she swerved around and gasped when she finally remembered he was there. "U-Um… Oikawa-kun!"

He blinked, once, twice, and that was when the rain registered to him. He shook his head, and swept the wet hair covering his forehead. But he still stood there, looking at her. His wavy hair was washed down and he looked like a lost kid, she didn't have the heart to leave him there. Through the sound of heavy rain, she told him to follow her to her apartment. That seemed to really wake him up.

She blushed and cleared her throat when his eyebrows rose and disappeared into his wet hair. "Y-You can't go home like this!" She gave him the plastic bag to hold onto, and he took it without any qualms, still in a somewhat daze at hearing her burst of confession and the sudden cold rain thrown at him. He started a little when she looped her now free arm around his, leading him into the lobby and up the three flights of stairs to her home.

Oikawa was silent all the way, but she could feel his eyes watching her as she unhooked her arm around his and unlocked the door. She called her mom, and remembered that her mother was going to be late again. Instead, a small peculiar-looking malamute puppy came bouncing towards her. He was appraising her slim bare ankles when the puppy excitedly bounced around her in circles. "Oh, um, please come in. And pardon my puppy, she gets excited all the time."

He waited for her to lead the little creature further inside and proceeded to step out of his soaked shoes. "Cute thing." He commented as he joined her in the kitchen.

Hitoka was still in her wet clothes, and had shrugged off the jersey. He lifted a brow when he saw her black inner t-shirt stick onto her body like a second skin, and was a bit disappointed that it wasn't white instead.

He _was_ a male. And he was still growing. So he had been wondering, just like anyone else.

But black was still good, it was a nice contrast to her fair skin.

She was waiting for the water to boil, and for a moment he stood looking at her wondering if she had just forgotten what happened just minutes ago. "Sensei,"

Hitoka turned around, and upon realizing he was still wet, she quickly went into a room. She came out with a pair of grey sweatpants and a black t-shirt a few seconds later, a fluffy towel neatly folded topped the pile of clothing in her hands. "Here, you can change into this while I put your clothes into the dryer. They're my dad's, but he only comes back once in a while." He took the clothing from her, and before she could pull her hands back he caught one in his. "Are you deliberately trying to make me forget? After what you said to me just now?"

The flush in her cheeks returned, "C-Can't you just forget it? I wasn't thinking wh-when I said all those stuff." He was still holding onto her hand, and didn't seem to want to let go of her anytime soon so she tried again. "Why don't you change first, and then we'll… we'll continue." She had to say something for him to let her go, and he did. Just as he stepped into the guest bathroom, Hitoka finally breathed out.

She massaged her temples with both her hands as she walked into the en suite bathroom of the master bedroom, trying to come up with a way to get herself out of the mess. She let her puppy hop onto the bed, playing with the squeaky toy she'd bought just recently, and tiredly stepped under the shower. By the time she came back to the kitchen to make some tea, she had already decided to just go out with it. She had slipped and she just couldn't brush it under the rug, especially after he had heard her loud and clear.

Hitoka cursed her luck. If only the rain had come earlier, then she wouldn't have had blurted out her confession. Her cheeks burned again, so with a sigh, she stood in front of her opened fridge. "Stupid me."

She could hear his footsteps as he entered the kitchen, and turned around to see him leaning against the kitchen counter just a few feet next to her, his palms planted firmly on the cool top and legs crossed at the ankle. "So what you said just now, what was that about?"

She sighed, and leaned against the fridge as she closed it. Her hair covered her face as she looked down onto the toes of her indoor slippers. "Are you going to make me go through the same embarrassment, Oikawa-kun?"

"I didn't hear you just now." He definitely heard her, and he was just teasing her. She looked up into him, trying to glare at him. Only that the fierceness was outweighed by her red cheeks and the little pout on her lips. He nearly grinned, but he refrained. "Come on, you can't leave me hanging like this." He pushed himself off the counter and stalked towards her.

He stopped in front of the visibly annoyed and embarrassed young teacher, just near enough for her to smell the rain on him and the lingering scent of his washed-down deodorant, enough for her to stare back at his chest.

Such a wide chest for a boy his age.

She looked away to cover her burning cheeks. They just didn't seem to want to cool down. "I hate it when you do this to me." His fingers found her chin, and gently he pulled on it until he could see her eyes looking back at him. "Do what?"

"Th-This. Teasing m-me. D-Do you find it funny, hm?" She was trying to appear intimidating, but god help him he found her to be the complete opposite. "But I thought you liked me, _Yacchan-_ sensei." She pushed him away, but he didn't budge that far, if moving a few centimeters counted as a budge at all. "You heard me, didn't you. So p-please… stop making me repeat myself. You hear things like that all the time so you must think it's easy, but it's my first time confessing."

Hitoka turned around, and quickly went to put the two cups of tea onto the table in the middle of the kitchen. "Your clothes need a few more minutes in the dryer, so can you please drink this and go home?" She was pulling out a chair, when he grabbed at her wrist. She collided into his frame when he whirled her around to look at him. His dark gaze that looked down upon hers killed off whatever things she wanted to say then.

"Why do you think I haven't gone out with anyone since you came, sensei?" She blinked, and he sighed as he rested his forehead against hers, closing his eyes. "I'm sorry, okay. I didn't mean to make you embarrassed or anything." He loosened his hold on her wrist, and pulled back to look into her face. "I just want to hear you say it again, because unlike you, who's brave enough to say those things, there this loser here who's too much of a coward to tell you how much he feels the same way."

That moment it was her turn gape at him. He cleared his throat, uncomfortable at her pair of big eyes looking at him. "Against popular belief, I _do_ feel embarrassed too, you know. So can you stop looking at me like that, sensei."

Hearing that, Hitoka couldn't help the little burst of giggle. He was looking at her funnily, and her giggles turned to laughter. She had always seen him as that guy who found pleasure in teasing others, that seeing him feeling embarrassed was a breath of fresh air and made her insides all warm. "You… You are really…"

He didn't know what tickled her, but he decided it was better to see her laughing freely rather than see her angry self. But she was still kind of cute when she was angry. She finally finished laughing, but her smile, her big smile was still there when she dried the tears forming on the corners of her eyes. He was about to reach out a hand to feel her pink cheeks with the back of his hand when she surprised him by holding his face in her small hands instead and tiptoed just enough so she could gently kiss him on the lips. It lasted only a second, but he swore his heart stopped just then.

She pulled back just as fast as she kissed him, and he knew she really was special when she looked up at him. She really was different than his previous relationships. "I really do love you after all, Oikawa-kun."

* * *

It had been a little over a week since she confessed to him, since she kissed him.

Kyoko would have called it a gentle bump of the lips, but to Hitoka it was still a kiss. It was her first time kissing someone other than her parents and grandparents.

She had a boyfriend, and the thought of being by Oikawa's side brought a silly smile onto her lips as she stared at the empty computer screen.

"What'cha grinning about, Yachi-sensei." Hitoka jumped in her chair at the sudden intrusion as Oikawa's homeroom teacher walked to her desk. She nearly fell off the swiveling chair, and after clumsily knocking down her pen container twice, she finally composed herself. "O-Oh, I was just thinking about how exciting it is that the spring tournament's gonna be next week." The older teacher nodded, feeling himself smiling as well as she brought up the coming event.

"As Oikawa-kun's homeroom teacher, I'm very happy to see him actually going out to play in an official match. In fact, I'm glad that all of the third years are going. Although I do feel sorry for them to be going to the training camp everyday right after school hours." Hitoka nodded, feeling herself relax a little after her embarrassing fiasco minutes ago. "Yes, I feel so too. But whenever they think that this is going to be their first and last match in high school, I feel that that's what motivates them."

Ever since that night, she hadn't been able to talk privately with Oikawa since the boys had gone off to the training camp on Sunday. The only time she could openly look at him were during her classes, and even then he would be busy talking with his classmates. He had wanted to go to her house after practices that he even called her, but by then it was already dark and she wanted him to rest well. Whenever she told him that, he'd just stay quiet for a few seconds before saying 'Okay, goodnight then.' The way he said it felt like he was upset at her.

The euphoria she had just minutes ago suddenly crashed down, and she frowned when she thought of how upset he might have been. Maybe she was the only one being happy.

"Well being active in sports is good and all, but I hope they don't neglect their studies as well." Hitoka looked up from glaring at the floor, her frown smoothing out a little. Seeing that he had her attention, the middle-aged teacher smiled a little at her. "Oikawa-kun, particularly. He's one of the top students this year has, and I see that his grades have improved since you came here."

Hitoka blinked, "Oh, that's good." She knew it was brilliant that he wasn't falling behind in his academics. Her initial worry about him being upset with her was replaced with confusion. "Um… Is there anything wrong, Sensei?" She asked tentatively, trying to gouge what the older man was trying to get across.

"Well, I _am_ glad that my students, especially Oikawa-kun, are able to keep up their excellent grades even with busy club schedules," he started, and paused as he took a seat next to her using the P.E teacher's chair who had her desk next to Hitoka's. The subtle way he was looking around to make sure no one was near them and busy doing their work confused her, but she decided to wait for a little bit before jumping to conclusions. When he was sure no one was near earshot, he hunched a little bit and continued, his voice a little above a whisper. "But Oikawa-kun's doing a little too good. Even his friends and the other third year regulars haven't improved _that_ much over twelve weeks."

When he saw that Hitoka looking back at him, confusion written all over her face, he decided to push a little more. "Have you been helping him? I mean, meeting up with him to discuss about questions?"

Realization dawned upon her then, and she could feel her heart rate kick up several notches. With a little push of effort on her side, she managed a little smile. "Of course, I'm his teacher after all." She hoped she didn't sound too nervous, but the way he was looking at her as if he knew what was actually going on between those two, she became even more nervous. She could feel her hands start to feel clammy.

"I've heard rumors, Yachi-sensei," She swallowed, and could feel the blood drain from her lips. Hitoka looked down into her clenched hands as her fingers curled a little against her lap. "About him taking you to the infirmary that one time you collapsed."

She nodded. "Ah, that. Yes, he did. Mizoguchi-san offered to carry me too, but he had to keep the other students in line." She hoped he was convinced with that. Even from an outsider's view, one couldn't just think that there was something between them just from that moment alone, now would he?

She hoped so.

"Some students were saying that the both of you talk to each other quite a lot. And you two seem to have a lively relationship. To put it straight, some people think that the both of you seem to be flirting at times." She bit her lower lip. Hitoka couldn't deny that, but flirting? That was probably them seeing her getting all flustered whenever Oikawa would find it funny to tease her.

She tried wracking her brain for something to say about that. She _had_ to. She wouldn't let others say whatever they want. "Well, that's because he's the Captain and I'm the club advisor. We meet up with Coach as well, so…" She was telling the truth. She didn't think people would have said things about them if they had known that. She looked up at him again, and she could feel her body temperature dropping a little at that perpetual little smile on his face.

"You are an excellent teacher, Yachi-sensei, I have no doubt about that. The changes you brought for the volleyball club is nothing less than astounding, but I should remind you that you are still an educator. Your duty is to keep the students in line and be that helping hand for them in situations where they struggle in their life." He sighed a little when he saw her head drop and her shoulders sag.

It wasn't that he hated the student teacher, it was the total opposite. She was almost like a daughter to him even. In the end he only wanted her to pass the training without complications. But in doing that, she had to commit herself wholly to teaching. Everything else should be secondary. Gently, fatherly, he held her shoulder with his warm hand. "Yachi-sensei, you are still young yet you are already doing well as a teacher. But because you're young that you should be more careful. So please, tell me, is there anything going on between you and Oikawa-kun?"

The lunch bell rang, and she waited for the staff room to be empty but the two of them when she looked up into his face, her lips turned up in a little smile. "There's nothing like that, sensei. He's just a student, nothing more. He's just a fast learner compared to the others." For a moment, he considered asking her to confirm what she just said, but he decided against it. He nodded at her, and stood up from his seat. "Alright then, I trust you, Yachi-sensei."

She watched him walk to his desk to place the folders in his hands and pick up his wallet, before walking out of the staff room. Just as he closed the door, her head dropped onto her desk. She could feel tears prickling the corners of her eyes, but she quelled them down. Now was not the time.

That day, she didn't join the boys during practice.

* * *

Kyoko could feel her lower jaw unhinge from her skull. It was fortunate that she hadn't wrapped her fingers around the wineglass or else the stem would have snapped in two.

"You _what_?! Hitoka-chan, please tell me you're kidding." She knew her former underclassman was telling the absolute truth, Hitoka was horrible at lying. And she would _never_ joke about _kissing_ a student. The young woman was too much of a goody-two-shoes for that sort of scandalous act.

At the moment, Hitoka was sitting opposite from her in the middle of the living room. The moment she saw the student teacher at her door step looking like she had cried a river, Kyoko had promptly sat her down at the low table and popped open the cheap red wine she had stocked up for the coming weekend. To hell with weekdays.

"I'm not. I-it just came out, okay. My confession and everything. And I was so happy he felt the same way that I just…" her soft cheeks bled red at the memory before she squeaked out, "kissed him."

Moments after she got around the initial shock, Kyoko gulped down her wine. "How long?" She suppressed her smirk when Hitoka turned even redder than was possible. "Like… a second… I guess."

God, that woman. Seeing Hitoka being so innocent tugged her heartstrings and yet irritated her at the same time. "You could've gone a little longer than that. I mean, you've been fantasizing about him for so long and all you did was peck him on the lips? And you waited for more than a week to tell me this?"

The woman twiddled her thumbs, her eyes staring at her glass of barley tea. "That… well that was enough for me, Kyoko-senpai." Said name sighed, and reached out a hand to hold one of Hitoka's trembling ones in hers. When she had her friend look up at her, she let herself smile softly. "I know." The little smile she was replied with made her smile a little more before she tilted her head to the side and started asking. "So? What's got your eyes all puffy now?"

Hearing that, the small smile dropped and Kyoko saw the tears threatening to fall again. But Hitoka, being who she was, forced them down. She wondered how long had it been since the last the young teacher cried. The last she saw Hitoka in tears was during her and the other third year regulars' high school graduation. Azumane had been too flustered when he saw little Hitoka crying and he almost passed out from trying to think of a way to make her smile again.

"Oikawa-kun's homeroom teacher almost caught us. I mean, even before that, there were rumors about us. I just…" she took a shaky breath before continuing, "I didn't realize people have been talking about us. I feel like such a failure for not noticing that."

She reached for her glass and gulped down half of the contents. Kyoko rested her chin in her palm as she watched Hitoka silently. If she was honest, the situation her friend got herself into was not the older teacher's fault. The whole problem was actually a little of Hitoka's fault for being too focused on one thing and the boy's fault for leading people on. If this Oikawa was anything like Hitoka described him to be, Kyoko could probably guess he was too used to teasing people around him and that this time he had made a mistake and thought that teasing her was just something he usually did to other girls before her.

Falling in love with whoever her heart called out to wasn't wrong in the least. Nor was it wrong for her to fall for her student. But what made things as complicated as they were, was how Hitoka should have acted. Another thing that she was concerned about was how Oikawa said he also liked his teacher. She didn't want to speculate things, but the boy might have mistaken his interest towards his teacher as something deeper when it might have been just a crush. Not a lot of student teachers came in and out of Seijoh, especially young women.

For all it was, Hitoka's presence might have been a breath of fresh air. It wasn't uncommon for teenagers to have a crush on their teachers until they come across someone their age who they would later find even more attractive.

So she told Hitoka that, and it broke her heart seeing the look her friend gave her, but she knew the young woman understood why she said those things. It took quite a while for everything to sink, and when it did, she finally let out a sigh. "But I love him."

"I know, Hitoka-chan," She scooted over to Hitoka's side and pulled her into a hug. "And believe me when I say it's not wrong for you to pursue this relationship, but he's still in school and if everyone finds out about you two then you'd be jeopardizing both of your positions." She felt bad that she was using that card on Hitoka, since she could see how much her friend cared about the boy and that she knew the teacher would do what was best for her student. But seeing a tear roll out of her otherwise bright eyes didn't mean it didn't hurt Kyoko.

"It's unfair, senpai."

She knew. Kyoko knew it was.

* * *

It was Saturday. The boys had just finished their last practice before their big match for the next day, and had been excused early. Mizoguchi had wanted them to rest well before the first game. By twelve, everyone had filed out of the school gym. The girls were not using it, so the place was empty. It should be empty, but there stood two people in one corner where Hitoka was used to sitting at during the practices.

She swallowed when he looked at her with his dark gaze. What scared her was not the fact that he'd probably retaliate, but it was the way his eyes looked at her. As if she was deliberately getting his hopes up and then do nothing but to bring it crashing down. It was cold, the way she told him that they should stop seeing each other as other than a student and his teacher. The way he was quiet for a long minute only to ask her "Why."

Hitoka took a step back when he approached her. "People have been talking, Oikawa-kun." He stuffed his hands into his pockets, the bag on his shoulder listing sideways as he shifted his weight to his left foot. "They can say whatever they want. I don't care." She bit her lower lip and lowered her eyes. "If the rumors get out of hand, it's certain that I'll be suspended for a year. I might not be able to continue being a teacher, Oikawa-kun." She dragged her eyes to look at him, and could see the tick in his jaw. He looked angry, he _was_ angry. It was in the way he stood, the way his lips sat in a straight line. "And you're a top student. The principle and your homeroom teacher are both considering to write you a recommendation letter for your future studies. You're even one of the best candidates for a scholarship, I don't want you lose that chance because of the rumors, Oikawa-kun."

"Then we can still go out after I get into college. You don't have to break it off just like that." He ignored the way she was trying to stay out of his reach, and walked towards her. She backed off until he had her back against the wall. The bag on his back fell off his shoulder with a loud thud as he shook it off. "I thought you said you loved me, didn't you? Why the hell would you back off now?" His voice was steady, albeit it being an octave lower. He wasn't liking the way things were working out and she knew that much. She pushed his chest to make some distance between them, and he stepped back about a few inches.

"I do, but I wasn't thinking straight at that time." She looked up into his face, and gently caressed his jawline with the back of her hand. "But you're still a teenager. You might like me now, but when you go out there, you're going to meet new people." When he had an inkling of what she was about to tell him, he held her hand in his and planted both palms on either side of her head, trapping her hand against the wall behind her. "Don't you _dare_ say that." He was glaring at her, but she shook her head.

"You're going to meet new people every day, and you'll get to know a lot of people. You're going to realize that there are other girls, other women better than me." He shook his head, "No, you're not serious." It was hard, but she managed a smile. "Once you find that person, all I'll ever be was a crush. A phase, Oikawa-kun. So please, it's better if you give up on me."

"Then are you saying that you're giving up on me?"

"Yes, because that's what's best for both of us." She wouldn't tell him that he was the first person she felt so strongly for, he should never know that.

The third year setter finally stepped back, scoffing at her words. "Really, sensei? You get my hopes up and then you bring me down like this? I didn't peg you to be that kind of person. All this bullshit you're telling me…" Oikawa picked up his bag, and looked at her. She saw the corner of his lips turn up a little into a smirk, mocking her. "Do you do this to other men too? Luring them like you did me, and then crushing them like you just did?" His words stung her, and when she looked up at him, the tears gathering in her eyes nearly stopped him there in his tracks. But he swallowed that nonexistent lump in his throat and went on.

"Just because you're an adult, you guys think is that I'm not even capable of understanding my own self? Well, news flash, sensei." He walked to the door, and slipped on his shoes.

"I'm not some dumb kid who can't even figure out what I feel for you."

* * *

There was no going around it.

He felt like shit.

He had been so angry he had just said whatever came to mind. The sight of her glassy eyes that time nearly had him running back to her, but then the anger overpowered every other sensation that he went and said things that were probably eating her inside out. By the time he cooled down at home, he felt like he had just acted exactly like a kid. He didn't throw a fit, but with the way he had been acting at the gym, he might as well did.

"Oh, Yacchan-sensei's here!"

Oikawa honestly thought after what happened the day before, she would have not wanted to come. But then, she was the one who managed to get the team where they were, so of course she'd see to it herself. He looked up from putting on his knee pads, and could instantly see the toll his words had taken on her.

"Good morning, everyone." She greeted the team with that usual smile on hers, but he had been watching her for so long to know that she was probably putting up a brave front. He knew, since she was avoiding his eyes.

He had dated several girls before her, and he had never felt so bad about the things he said. Most of the time the girls would just up and leave with the excuse that he was too busy with volleyball, and he'd just brush it off. But when she had just told him that they should stop before things escalated, something in him just snapped. She was right, the way things were it was bound to put both of them in trouble, he even acknowledged that the day before she confessed. If he had just calmed down a little more, then he would have agreed with her.

What really got him angry was the fact that she treated his feelings for her as a phase. A freaking phase.

If she knew how torturous the days were when he could only look at her from afar and admire her exuberance, she wouldn't have said that. If only she knew how hard he had tried convincing himself that he wasn't interested at her, only to realize that the end of the day he couldn't get her out of his head, she wouldn't have ever even thought about breaking things off.

If she had decided to break it off with him and cry about it after, then why would she even bother to do that? Just because she was a little older than him that didn't entitle her to bear the burden alone, treating him as if he wouldn't even be able to shoulder half of it. What was he, chopped liver?

And what was with the opponents anyway? They had just played through two matches without him even noticing it. He did break a little sweat, but that was it. Mizoguchi ruffled his head just as he made it out of the court. "Alright, guys. We're gonna breeze through the prelims if you keep it up like this. Right, Yachi-sensei?"

She was busy high-fiving the other members, delighted that they won the first round. For a while Oikawa glimpsed her shining eyes and the big smile she had, and he felt his chest ache a little. What was he going to do with her? She just breezed into his life like it was nothing and then left him all shaken up.

Just as she heard Mizoguchi's voice, she quickly turned around with that smile still on her face. The moment she saw him though, he couldn't help but notice the falter in her smile. Her cheeks flushed a little when she was put on the spot, before she managed to pull herself together. "Um. You guys were really good out there!"

Oikawa fought the urge to pull her to him and keep her all to himself that moment.

The next few hours were a blur to him as they all cleaned up and returned to school for a little meeting for the next match. Their next two matches would be on Wednesday, and Sunday. All of the members thought that that was it, until Mizoguchi announced Yachi-sensei departure just before their match on the next Sunday. The boys protested but still they wished her luck, and the managers cried as they hugged her. They didn't forget to take pictures with her as a memento before everyone cleaned up and filed out of the school.

It didn't take long for Oikawa to catch up to Yachi-sensei when he stopped her just when she exited the convenience store. Her eyes widened, as if she hadn't expected to meet him there.

"Oikawa-kun?" He sighed when he took the plastic bag from her hand, this time noting that she hand binged on ice cream. She was probably going to wolf them down with her pet puppy. "Let me walk you home. You're not getting anywhere dragging this around." She tried to stop him, but his strides were longer and before long she gave up. The walk to her apartment was quiet, and he wondered if they were just going to continue like that until her last day on school.

"I can go from here, Oikawa-kun. Um, thank you." She politely bowed at him, and quickly turned to the entrance. Her journey was stopped short when he tugged onto her sleeve. "Y-Yes?" Her bright eyes looked back at him, her cheeks flushing probably due to the exertion of having to hold her ice cream cups, or probably due to him stopping her. He'd like to think it was because of him.

"When you're finished with your training I wanna ask you out." Her cheeks flushed deeper, and he couldn't help the grin on his face. Her flustered self never ceased to tire him out. If she was going to act like that just with him asking her out, then what was she thinking when she took it upon herself to break things off with him in the first place? "I-I told you that's not possible, Oikawa-kun. You're going to meet new people-"

"You can say whatever you want but I'm dead set about you. Even if I'm like this, I _am_ partly adult, you know."

She looked down into her shoes, and he just loved it when she would nervously twiddle her thumbs. Everything about her just drove him mad. "I'm sorry, I can't do it." Her eyes looked up into his dark ones and he just knew she didn't mean that. She couldn't. Not when she had looked so earnest when she had confessed to him all those days ago.

"One of these days you're going to thank me for doing this, Oikawa-kun." And with that, she left him standing there, watching her hurriedly disappearing up into her home.

She could push him away all she wanted to, but he was not going to have any of that.

* * *

"Alright class, I guess this is where we say goodbye. Don't forget whatever I taught you, alright?" The collective 'yes' answered her, and just in time, the bell rang. Hitoka shoved a massive pile of quiz papers into her bag, half-heartedly smiling at the students who greeted her as they filed out. Most of them had taken pictures with her earlier in the morning, and she couldn't help but feel a little guilty for she would leave the volleyball club in the middle of their tournament after all that they have gone through together.

Her eyes swept over the class and she saw Oikawa taking his time cleaning his desk, his movements seeming to be deliberate, even. Maybe he was just tired, the club was having practices up until that morning. She was trying to fit her calculator into her stuffed pencil case when he walked up to her without his bag.

"I have a few questions, sensei." She paused her abuse on her pencil case, wide eyes looking up at him as he stopped in front of her desk.

She didn't know it, but he would have stood closer to her if the teacher's desk wasn't there. That and if there hadn't been others in the class. But she didn't need to know that.

After what had transpired the day before, she was kind of expecting him to be addressing her. He had always been the type that would try to make things difficult for her. But then she found his dark orbs fixed upon herself, and despite everything she said to him that day, she very nearly turned into a lake of goo. What did he want her for? What else was there to say?

"Me?" She asked. Her voice broke from the nervousness, so she cleared her throat and tried again. "A-About what?" She inwardly cringed when she noticed her stutter. Peeking behind him, she was relieved that the students who were still sticking around hadn't noticed.

"About Monday's quiz," he grinned easily at her, as if everything was normal. He was either trying to ease her nervousness, or he was probably teasing her again. Knowing the setter, it was probably the latter. "Was that why you left your quiz sheet empty?" She had to ask, just in case. But then he shrugged. "Probably."

One of his classmates called out to him, and he told them he'd be staying back to ask sensei a few questions, which was entire bull since she wouldn't be teaching them anymore and asking questions at that point was kind of silly. Hitoka was tempted to tell them to just drag him to wherever they were going when they left the class. He turned to her, his grin now replaced by a smile. "I have a lot of question so let's wait until everyone's gone home."

She sighed softly, resigning to whatever fate awaited her. The students bled away, one student after the other, and she almost begged them not to go. To be straight up, she had always been awful with straightforward guys. She was also bad around good-looking guys who played sports. It so happened that Oikawa was both of those. Granted, he was still a few years younger than her, but he was still taller than her, so all the bravado that she was supposed to have for being older dissipated the moment he placed both hands on the edges of the table to lean towards her.

"Okay, let's cut the crap," he smiled, a bright, welcoming thing that took over his entire face, a smile that betrayed his thoughts and his words. "What the hell really happened that day? You didn't think I'd believe you now would I? All that talk about not wanting to be with me after all that burst of confidence when you confessed to me."

"I believed you would understand. I don't know how else I should explain it to you. Even if I'm not your teacher anymore, I don't want to be the one holding you back from meeting the right person for you." He sighed then at her answer, a heavy, morose-sounding thing that she could almost feel. The length of his fingers disappeared into his dark brown tresses. For a moment she wondered how would it feel to be that close to him, feel the heat of his body filling the gaps between them.

She'd say pretty damn good. But she wouldn't know. She would never know. Not after she made her mind.

"I'm sorry, if I dragged you into this mess. But like I said before, it's probably best for the both of us to stop whatever it is there between us." He wasn't smiling anymore, he wasn't even trying to look okay. "Oikawa-kun, you're probably feeling these things about me, but trust me it's just a phase. I know, because I've been your age once."

She immediately regretted saying that, because he was already onto her. He tilted his head as he asked, "Really now? Who was that lucky teacher?" Hitoka blushed a faint pink and coughed into her fist. "N-None of your business, Oikawa-kun." That smile came back, a lazy up-tilt of his lips. He was jealous, she knew. She wondered how possible it was for him to look so disarming in spite of the emotions flitting in his eyes.

"Fair enough. But that doesn't change the fact that this here," He caught her off guard when he pulled her hand and laid her palm on his chest, just above his heart. Beating as fast as hers, numbingly fast. It was like feeling her own heartbeat whenever he as much as looked at her. "This is real. I've thought long and hard, and you can't say otherwise."

She tried pulling her hand away and that just caused him to walk around the desk. He smirked when she gave up. She sighed, "Why would you fall for me anyway?" The smirk mellowed down as he grinned softly at her, a little gleam trickling into his gaze. "Why _wouldn't_ I?" At that moment Hitoka could feel her cheeks rising up in temperature all over again when he swept his gaze over her face, stopping a long moment at her lips before he spoke up, "It's hard not to."

"I-I um…" She turned her face away, in a useless effort to keep him from watching her cheeks get redder. He was probably enjoying it. "Why do you make things difficult for me? I'm trying to move on, Oikawa-kun. I can't do that if you keep doing things like this. It's…" She swallowed, "It's very hard for me."

"Then don't. You're probably thinking I can live without having to see you," the smile slipped from his face. All her willpower was needed to not fling herself to her knees, gather the pieces up from the floor, and reconstruct it back into place. "But the fact is I need you. Yes, fine, I might sound like a kid right now but I can't imagine not seeing you. Not knowing you. It's different this time. Give me a chance for me to prove myself, will ya?"

She guessed at that moment, everything just surged inside her, made her weightless long enough to rise to the tips of her toes and shove her lips to his. The things she had thought of every time she looked at him- how his mouth puckered when he thought, how his eyebrow ticked when he was a little annoyed, how his eyes widened just slightly if inspiration wriggled into his ear- for she knew it was love, it was love that pushed her towards him, suspended enough just to feel his lips against hers for a few seconds when she realized she made a huge mistake.

Her heels hit the ground and shocked her back into reality. It was impossible to articulate just how utterly mortified she was as she watched him blink rapidly, watched his brow collapse in confusion, watch the corners of his mouth pull down into a grimace. What was wrong with her? She was supposed to end this and yet just hearing his voice made her forget her purpose.

 _Oh my God._

 _Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God._

She wasn't completely sure the heady sensation of him against her would've ever been enough to justify the horrified feeling in the pit of her stomach.

"Oh my God," She coughed, staggered backward. "Oh my God, I'm so sorry, I…Oh my God. I can't believe I just did that. I didn't mean to do that. I'm so, so, so, so, so sorry. I just… what in the world was I thinking, oh my God." She stalked past her desk, past her bag, left it abandoned near the blackboard.

There was no way she was stopping in her trek to get the hell out of the classroom. Her legs were ramen, quivering underneath her as though they'd had a nice long soak in a pot of boiling water. Her face felt like it had been in boiling water, it felt so hot and burning. How could she do that, how on earth could that have happened, what had possessed her to actually…kiss her student?! For the second time?! It was horrible, it was totally wrong of her.

Her fingers wrapped around the handle of the door, and she yanked it open a little.

Then, it stopped. It refused to open anymore, as a strong resistance was holding it in place, open about a foot. For a moment she wondered if that width was enough for her to squeeze out and save her ass. She didn't know, but damn, she was ready to try. She would slither out on her hands and knees if that meant salvation.

"Wait," a voice said softly. She turned around, and she was shaking. She was so preoccupied with the flame that was roaring inside her and baking her cheeks that she hadn't noticed, in her mad dash for the exit, that he'd followed her like a shadow, ghosted behind her without a sound.

His eyes were the first things she noticed. They were so liquid, so molten, that she thought they were going to drip out of his irises and puddle in her exposed collarbone. He was looking down at her with the most complex expression that she couldn't place a single emotion, for they flitted across his pupils too quickly for her to pick one out.

Her touch slipped off of the handle and trembled back into place at her side. There he was, his body mere inches from hers, his presence pinning her to the door. As she let her hold on it fall away, the door rushed shut, and he leaned against it, leaned down toward her.

"What was that, sensei," he whispered, and he felt his breath waft over her nose. Trembles snaked down her back, wound around her midsection like a copper wire charged with electricity. She couldn't breathe and she really thought she was going to die of suffocation. She was going to die, die there pinned to a door by her incredibly attractive student-

Wait…she supposed that wasn't a bad thing?

Suddenly, he was so close that she could feel his hair brushing against her forehead, dancing with her own bangs. The tip of his nose hissed just along the side of hers. If she could pluck up the courage to reach upward, she could have dragged her touch along his strong jaw line, could've felt the velvet skin there that she'd dreamed about kissing again and again.

"You say all those crap about this shitty phase and what not," he murmured airily, hardly making a sound. "And then you go and kiss me like that. What the hell, gimme a break."

"I-I made a mistake. B-but I meant what I said, you should forget about me," She breathed almost the instant he went quiet. She was really into him, it wasn't a simple crush anymore. She wanted him but she didn't want to be hurt in the future. He was all she ever wanted that she didn't know what she would do if one day he realized he didn't really love her after all and instead fall for someone else. She had tried to sound like an adult, saying it was for his own sake but in reality it was for her own sake. Hitoka wanted so badly to let him go, but she didn't want to. Her indecisiveness made her want to burst into a fit of laughter at how utterly pathetic she sounded. She wasn't fit to be a teacher if she was going to have feelings for a student just because he had given her some attention.

But instead, he chuckled softly, appraised her anxious face, and then laid his lips against hers. The touch was hardly there, barest minimum, and yet the fire she felt nearly knocked her to the ground. It lasted a few seconds at best, and she nearly started crying with the perfection of it.

And then slowly, deliberately, he pulled away.

"Shit," he muttered. "I should have done that way earlier if I knew I'd feel like this." Her eyes were glazed with oncoming tears and he felt like a jerk. But that didn't stop him from wanting her to know that he was serious about her just as much as she was about him. "…'I'm sorry, that was really stupid, that was so wrong'... did you want me to say that? Did you really mean it when you said you made a mistake?" She blinked, and a tear rolled off the corner of her eye. Slowly she shook her head. "I didn't mean to hurt you. I didn't want to say all those things. I just… what if one day you find someone else and you decide you don't want me anymore? I-I don't want that." His hand came up between them to dry away the tears rolling her cheeks. "Why am I crying? Gosh…" She frowned, and he kissed the frown away.

Everything about him made her feel whole again. It felt safer in his arms. She wondered then, why would she even consider forgetting him when he gave her so much to live for. "I love you, Oikawa-kun." He sighed, relieved that they finally came to a close. Never in his life would he have been so patient with a woman. Now that she finally gave in, it felt as if he could do anything.

"So what now? You still gonna play this game with me again? Or are you gonna let me treat you to a date someday." Hitoka was still trying to wrap her head around things. "Huh? A date?" he nearly face-palmed if he hadn't been so near her. "Yep. A date. Like any other normal people do." She blinked a few times before her cheeks colored again when she realized what was happening. "I-I've never been to a d-date before. Um… Are you really okay with this?" She was worrying her bottom lip and he was tempted to bite her cheeks. "With what?" She peeked up at him through her eyelashes. "Well I mean… We can't really go out freely since we're… you know… because I'm… _was_ your teacher and that'd be really weird for some people but um it's not like I don't want to go out with you it's just…"

He had removed his lips from hers, but his body still stayed in flawless proximity; her torso was nearly flush against his, he could practically feel her soft curves against the white inner wear of his gakuran. The only thing wrong with this position was the fact that her lips were busy with spewing uselessness when they could've been busy with something else. Like his.

A strip of brazen insistence made his arm swing downward, loop around her waist, and bring her attention back to him when he pulled her closer against him. He smirked when her words stopped at the closeness "It's not too bad, having my teacher as a girlfriend." The feeling of dating an older woman had that risqué vibe about it that he liked. Always a first for everything.

Hitoka just sort of looked at him, gazed at him, trying to decide whether or not he meant what he said or if he was just going to split right out the door. The indecision in her eyes, her beautiful, gorgeous eyes, was ever so clear like the crystalline of her irises. Helping her along wouldn't hurt, would it?

His fingers knotted lightly into her sun kissed tresses, and he guided her face towards his, wasted no time in placing his mouth completely against hers. It felt like silk, her lips responding tentatively with his, but it seemed that she couldn't stop herself. The hesitation was blatant in her movements, in how she uncertainly placed her hands on his shoulders, but the carelessness began to take over. Abandon, complete caution to the wind burst through her, and he could feel it as she pressed herself more to him, as if they weren't close enough. The hands left his shoulders, and instead her palms curled firmly against his chest, wrinkling his otherwise crisp shirt.

The utter sense of freedom they felt as she began to get into it raged like wildfire through every one of their senses. The light gasps that came from her which he swallowed, sweet anmitsu and her natural decadence on his tongue, her light blue cotton shirt and satin hair caressing his skin, the smell of his deodorant, it all drowned them both in absolute overload that they couldn't get enough of. Hitoka couldn't breathe, but this time it was okay, because he'd stolen her breath away but replaced it with his own. She couldn't care less if she was to die there. She couldn't think straight, but this time it was okay, too, because thinking straight would've ripped her out of her dream and tossed her back into reality where his strong embrace was seriously lacking and the heat of his body was replaced with the cool nothingness of the real world.

Her fingers danced along the collar of his shirt, she tugged at it lightly, played with it. Daringly, she let her tongue poke out, let it swipe along his lower lip, let their tongues dance together, let everything melt away into the recesses of her mind. Nothing existed. It was all gone. For once, she stopped beating herself up, because this one time that she took the risk, it came out right. Everything said it was wrong, it all screamed wrong, but she didn't care. This wasn't wrong. Not just "it couldn't be," or "it felt too right to be," but it just wasn't. It wasn't wrong. For once, she took the leap, and she scored.

He pulled away again, this time much softer, much slower than before. Their lips dared to linger for a breath, and as she had her eyes closed, he thought to himself if she really hadn't dated anyone before. Never had he felt so much from a kiss. For a moment he realized that she really _was_ an adult if she could kiss like she did him just then.

She was afraid of opening her eyes, afraid that the warmth of his was a figment of her dream. Her eye lids slid open against her will. Well, she had to check.

There he was, in all his glory. The sunshine poured in from the window, illuminating a soft circle around his head like a golden halo, his lips parted slightly as a gentle pant slipped in and out of his lungs. She allowed her fingers to wander up to his cheeks, trace the defined bone beneath his skin, and feel the brief increase of warmth under her touch.

"Wow," She breathed, gulping. Did she just kiss him like that? Did she really? "Yeah," Oikawa gave a lopsided smile, still finding it hard to believe that such an innocent-looking person like her could kiss like that. "Wow is right." As his arms bound her tighter to him, she wound her arms around his neck, their foreheads was rested calmly against each other.

"We can't tell anyone, huh," he whispered to her, she could hear the heaviness in his heart as he spoke. "I don't want anyone else to know you can kiss like that." The playful smirk he had had washed away all the heaviness and for the first time since she confessed, she could feel herself smiling.

"Of course," She had to fight the urge to laugh at the absurdity of the young man- there she was worrying about the many ways their relationship would turn south if anybody knew, and there he was thinking of something entirely different- but the sincerity in his eyes, the eyes that had always made her stutter since god knows when, couldn't be missed. He could be smiling and grinning, but that didn't mean he was any less serious. He wasn't joking in the least.

"I'm still scared, but if it's with you then," She murmured as he cupped his palms around her face.

"I think we'll be alright."

"You're gonna say 'because it's Oikawa-kun', right?"

"Yep. Because I'm with Oikawa-kun."

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A/N: What on earth was this montrous chapter? i didn't even plan for it to be like this.

Gakuran = Black school uniform

Anmitsu = red bean paste


	13. Chapter 13

**Yabai Koi Series**

 **A/N: I'm really not confident about this one, but I have to take some chances now and then, right? And for the record I am not homophobic or anything, just saying. The last time I wrote something similar to this I had to take it down because readers were hating me on it. But anyways, I hope you'll enjoy this one.  
**

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 **Disclaimer: I do not own Haikyu! or any of its characters.**

 **#13:** It wasn't easy working at a gay bar when he was actually straight.

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He was known as the 'Ikemen Professor' at the university he was teaching at. He should be. Not many at his age achieved as much as he did. Finishing his Bachelor's Degree in Psychology in three and a half years and later graduated as a valedictorian; following his two-year working experience with a Masters and Doctorate in Early Childhood Development, he was a successful former athlete many people would like to be friends with. A twenty nine-year old man with good money, good brains and a good figure to boot, Oikawa was an eligible Bachelor most women would love to get their hands on. He was practically a public figure, a celebrity in the small town he lived with his mother, elder sister and her pair of children.

So why was he working part-time in a gay bar?

Maybe he wouldn't have complained so much when his aunt asked him to help out for a few months in her new establishment, because he was nothing if not a family-man. Despite his flamboyant nature, his idea of a quality life was to have ample time to spend with family. Blood ties were everything to him. 

"Curse you, old-woman." He gritted out from under his breath as he felt the stubby fingers of his… _client…_ creep up the slope of his leotard-clad butt.

Lending a helping hand to his aunt who helped his single mother raise him during his rebellious teenage years was nothing, really. 

If he had to work as a bartender, that is.

Not as a Drag queen to entertain the patrons enjoying themselves at the establishment. An establishment that had other men, good looking or otherwise, dressing up as women to entertain the string of male customers who appreciated the swing of another male's hips. And surprise, surprise. Apparently 'Tōru-cchi' was the most popular one of them all.

 _Tōru-cchi_

He felt like dying every time he heard that.

He tried not to show the annoyed tick in his eyebrow and painstakingly turned up his red glossy lips into a smile, one that appeared more like a grimace than what was supposed to be a sultry and seductive invitation. The grimace turned up a fraction when the cigarette breath invaded his nostrils as the thirty-something salary man, his current client, called out his name. "You said somethin'? Tōru-cchi?"

With the expertise of having worked there for two weeks now, Tōru bashfully shook his head, dark brown curls bouncing around his face. He tipped his head slightly to the side, imitating his three-year old niece whenever she was trying to act cute, and his long fingers wrapped around the man's rough ones. Well, he _was_ a fast learner after all.

His insides churned as his client took that as a cue to lace their fingers together, before planting a wet kiss onto the back of his equally manly hand. "Nothing, I was just clearing my throat…" Dark eyes looked expectantly into his brown ones, before he grudgingly added, in a sickeningly sweet manly voice -which was impossible by the way, but who cares right- as he leaned closer to the man and finished with… " _Goshujin-saman~"_

To top off his act, he threw in a little wink.

That was enough to render any other customer of his to bite their fingernails and cut off their arms just for an encore.

He wished someone would just kill him already.

After a few more worshipping and cooing, his satisfied customer said his farewells, slipped a few bills in the exposed bra strap holding Tōru's fake boobs, and stumbled out the bar after giving the already-tormented, forced-to-work former athlete a wet kiss on his cheek. As if on cue, his aunt, that fifty-something woman who tricked him into dressing up into a sexy woman, danced her way to the other side of the bar top. She waggled her red-painted eyebrows while she put out her hand in front of him. A hearty laughter escaped her lips as she counted off the cash her sour-faced nephew extracted from his bra strap and slapped onto her waiting palm.

"Yay! You're such a money-maker, Tōru-chan!"

The big amount of money he earned made her dance all the way to the small bartender working diligently at the right end of the long bar counter, before she crushed the light-haired woman into her bosom. "I'll be able to keep this place running for a looong time with this kind of money, right, Hitoka-chan?"

Not waiting for the flustered bartender to answer, the bar owner twirled her around in a funny dance. The flustered woman ended up laughing instead at the cheerful older woman, before she nodded. Before long, his aunt, still on a high after receiving such provisions from her poor nephew, went out to search for other victims to twirl around in celebration. He followed his aunt with his tired eyes, before landing on the slender bartender. The remnants of mirth was still in her eyes as she continued to wipe the wine glasses; and despite feeling like a train wreck after having to endure the feeling of thongs wedge up his butt for five straight hours, suddenly he felt his shoulder relax as he drank in the upturn of her lips and just hear the ring of her voice as she tended to a customer looking for a drink.

Aah… nothing beats a cute woman to look at after a long day of forced labor.

She caught his eyes, and he raised a brow as she made a motion with her free hand. The little bartender appeared to look amused despite the little blush on her cheeks, and she mouthed out something. It took him a few seconds to realize that his wig was slipping off a little, which made him cough into his fist and embarrassedly look away, discreetly straightening the fake curls. He chanced a peek at her, and she had already turned to wipe the remaining glasses. But he didn't miss her laugh and the slight flush in her cheeks.

Good, now she was laughing at him.

He was a 'family's first' kind of man, but at that moment, there was no one he hated the most than his aunt.

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 **A/N: Yep, that's it. hehe. I thought I'd write up a short drabble. I'll try to update the continuation of this chapter as fast as I can. Hope you enjoyed this one.^^**

 **Ikemen = good looking men/boys**

 **Goshujin-saman~ = it means master, and the –saman- suffix is actually used to address someone cutely. It's basically the same as –sama.**

 **Just like how sometimes people say Toru-** _ **kyun**_ **instead of –kun just to make it sound cute. Or just used to mess around. XD**


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